Isolation and Confronting the Cultural Norms in Philip...

Inability to communicate and longing to relive the past have been reoccurring themes throughout literature. However, Philip Larkin, whose poetry is often associated with the mundane and marginalized, transcends these themes by allowing his poetry to become more than just slices of life. His poems â€Å"Talking in Bed† and â€Å"High Windows†, examine the seemingly ordinary experiences of a couples silence, and wanting to relive the past through the lens of isolation and questioning cultural values. In his poems â€Å"Talking in Bed† and â€Å"High Windows† Larkin uses simplistic language to convey the themes of isolation and questioning the values of cultural norms. In his poem â€Å"Talking in Bed†, Larkin uses simplistic language to revel themes of isolation†¦show more content†¦Though Larkin presents this idea through the first line, hypothesizing that talking â€Å"ought to†, or should be, easy, the only connection between the t wo is their physical sharing of the bed. Continually, throughout the first stanza Larkin only hints at the idea that there should be conversation taking place between the two, establishing the historical image â€Å"goes back so far†, of the traditional relationship where honest discourse is a part of the relationship. However the main focus of the three lines is the isolation between the two lying in bed, as John Gilroy states in his analysis from Literature Insights: Philip Larkin Selected Poems â€Å"The essential solitude of the individual is a prominent concern of Larkin’s† (63). Larkin’s concern in establishing the early theme of isolation around the speaker is to call into question the normality of their relationship, one which is rooted only in a physical dimension. By drawing a focus to the couples physical relationship Larkin is than free to question the values of cultural norms based around a the normality of a strictly sexual relationship. Th e reader’s expectations, indicated by the poems title, would be that the couple are partners in a symmetrical relationship, where discourse and sex would accompany one another. However, Larkin gives no indication that the two talk, only the notion that it should be easy to do. Mazid, again draws clear lines between