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Church Going by Phillip Larkin

Hi everyone,

Just a quick query,

I'm studying the Pastoral Genre AQA, A2 English Literature B, I'm just currently in the process beginning to do some initial reading, note/taking analysis of the texts, one of which is the Post 1945 poetry, one of the poems in the anthology is Church Going by Phillip Larkin,

Before we broke up my teacher said a good starting point would be to consider if the poem we are looking at is pastoral, anti-pastoral or post-pastoral and then see if we can spot any of conventions of any one of these within the poem.

My problem is I'm currently not really sure where this poem lies whether it is any or none of these three as it doesn't seem to be a particularly pastoral poem on reading/analysing it myself and a bit of reading about it I've done online, the only two conventions I'd really say I've spotted are:

- An isolated existence/character (Within the confines of the first lines of the poem, the speaker comments on how they will only go into the Church once knowing no one is around)

- Religious//Christian element which can be present in the pastoral,

Could someone clarify for me could this poem considered to be pastoral/anti-pastoral/post pastoral or not pastoral at all ? and if the latter can that be the case of some of the poems you study and would you then having to be analyse why it is not a pastoral poem of any kind?

Many thanks in advance,

Daniel

Reply 1

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