Whitsun Weddings

Theme:

Larkin talks about journey, the physical journey of watching things pass by and the changes that happen around him. Marriage and love is also described, that they are a rite of passage for everyone.

Content:

The poem describes a train journey on a hot Saturday afternoon, with the window open, where the persona watches newly weds at the station board onto the train and leave their families behind.

Structure:

The poem has eight stanzas with 10 lines each, and holds a rhyme scheme pattern: ABABCDECDE. The second line is shorter, to create a visual contrast, and the almost recreates the movement and sound of a train itself. 

The poem is written in the past tense, and based on an experience Larkin had himself. Larkin is an onlooker, an outsider distant from the events.

 Whitsun was originally a church festival where people wore white, and the holiday can be linked with weddings because people wear white and its the festival of change.

Analysis:

Stereotypes and characters:

Looks down on the working class, snobby and unpleasant to them.

• Girls:

'grinning and pomaded', 'parodies of fashion' 'posed irresolutely' - Larkin describes the girls in a degrading matter, their physical features of 'perms' fake and false as much as they try. The girls are vain, they flaunt around pretentiously and are materialistic and cheap. Larkin makes them almost comedic, so ridiculous to look at. 

• Fathers:

'never known success so huge' 'broad belts under their suits' 'seamy foreheads' - resemble the nervous, old failures who are quite fat and dressed well for this event

• Mothers:

Larkin makes the mothers grotesque, 'loud and fat', they become noisy, annoying, vulgar and Larkin describes them in a degrading, aggressive manner. 

• Uncles:

'shouting smut' suggests a rude, inappropriate side to relatives, that are carless and loud, quite embarrassing and rude to be with

• Children:

The children 'frowned at something dull', unimpressed and bored, they don't understand what's around them

• Larkin uses imagery in the beginning to appeal to the reader's senses. The first stanza describes the industrial areas of the 'back of the houses' and the car's 'blinding windscreens' reflecting the sun but transitions into the countryside passing by. The city becomes ugly and unsightly compared to the pleasant passing scenery. 
• Larkin seems to dislike marriage,  a 'happy funeral' for some, bittersweet, disgusted towards marriage, conflicting emotions that marriage has, joyful for the couple and loss for family
• 'A sense of falling like an arrow shower sent out of sight, somewhere becomes rain' - realisation of importance of marriage, the rain a refreshing ending, a reason to blossom and grow. The rain is the good in marriage, and the beauty of nature. Arrows move forward, hopeful future and that change that can bring energy.