Adrian Mitchell claps back against Philip Larkin’s “They fuck you up, your mum and dad.” While he lacks Larkin’s bite, he captures my own upbringing much better.
Tag Archives: Philip Larkin
What Your Mum and Dad Do to You
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "This Be the Verse", “This Be the Worst", Adrian Mitchell, Child rearing Comments closed
Some Good News, Thanks to the Sun
Bill McKibben reports good news about the world’s conversion to solar so here are poems praising the sun from Larkin and Milton.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged “Solar", John Milton, Paradise Lost, solar power Comments closed
What Are Days For? Larkin’s Non Answer
In “Days,”Larkin urges us to make the most of each day.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Days", "Garden of Love", living in the moment, Macbeth, William Blake, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Ted Lasso, Not Larkin, for Child Advice
Larkin’s famous poem “They fuck you up, your mum and dad” is wrong in a number of interesting ways.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "This Be the Verse", child trauma, Parenting, Ted Lasso Comments closed
Empire of Light, Filled with Poetry
The film “Empire of Light” is magical in part because of all the poetry recited.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Death's Echo", "Trees", Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ali Fears Eats the Soul, Chariots of Fire, cinema, Empire of Light, In Memoriam, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, T.S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, Waste Land Comments closed
Larkin’s Attack on Nostalgia
Larkin’s “I Remember” is an attack on Coventry for not having given him an idealized childhood.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "I Remember I Remember", Childhood, Nostalgia, Thomas Hood Comments closed
My Problematic Relationship with Charles II
A melange of thoughts, including my supposed link with Charles II and authors connected with Coventry.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "I Remember I Remember", Charles II, Coventry, Duke of Monmouth, E.M. Forster, George Eliot, Lord Bunbury, Thomas Hood Comments closed
Notre Dame’s Meaning for Non-Believers
Wednesday Non-believers as well as believers may feel the urge to send up a prayer of thanks that Notre Dame’s basic structure appears to have survived the fire. The world-wide concern over the catastrophe indicates that the cathedral was not only meaningful to Christians. A friend alerted me to a Fleda Brown poem that helps […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Church Going", "Notre Dame", Christian orthodoxy, Fleda Brown Comments closed
