CC-8 Poetry

1. The Second Coming - William Butler Yeats

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer (metaphor); Falcon - Symbolism of the world
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide (metaphor) is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand (hyperbole).
The Second Coming! (Biblical allusion to the return of Jesus Christ) Hardly are those
words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi (allusion to the latin word - World’s
storehouse of images)
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, - (simile)
Is moving its slow thighs (imagery), while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds. - Symbolism of approaching death
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep - refers to the breakdown of Greco-Roman
civilization that took place 2000 years ago
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle (Consonance),
And what rough beast (metaphor), its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

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 Primary Theme and Structure

Major Themes of “The Second Coming”: Violence, prophecy, and meaninglessness are
the major themes foregrounded in this poem. Yeats emphasizes that the present world is falling
apart, and a new ominous reality is going to emerge.
The poem follows ABBA CDDC throughout the poem with iambic pentameter.

Summary

“The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats, a legendary Irish poet, is the most
robbed piece of literature due to its heavily used or borrowed title, lines or phrases. It was first
published in The Dial in 1920. The poem deals with the subjects of political, spiritual and
cultural decay and regeneration. The poet prophesied that some sort of “the Second Coming is
arriving”, and the anarchy in the world foreshadows it is not very far. The popularity of the poem
rests on the fact that it has resonated through all the cultural decays across the globe since its
publication.
As this poem is about the changing nature of the world, the poet says that the world is
constantly altered through violence and chaos. Comparing the world with the widening gyre, he
says that this changing world is made up of interlocking circles constantly spinning and
expanding to catalyze their existence. He argues that, due to this change, humanity has become
disillusioned, and has loosened away from its center. This distance, in turn, liberates the people
from their ancient traditions and conventions. Also, it pushes them into a new era of freedom and
new opportunities. That is why the center of the world is falling apart, which will eventually lead
humanity to more destructive situations. Hence, the poet also prophesied that there’s a monster
looming in the future, which is constantly paving its way to reach this dismantled world.
Violence, prophecy, and meaninglessness are the major themes foregrounded in this
poem. Yeats emphasizes that the present world is falling apart, and a new ominous reality is
going to emerge. The idea of “the Second Coming” is not Biblical. To him, the Second Coming
is not a savior that is going to restore the business of humanity, but a sphinx that will add more to
the agony and destruction of the world. He argues that people are moving away from the center
and there is no hope in the future due to the chaos. And those, who wish for any spiritual
guidance, are living in fool’s paradise.

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Spiritus Mundi - refers to the conviction that the minds of individuals are connected to a
collective mind and the images are the reflection of the consciousness that is occurring in one’s
imagination.

Describe Second Coming as a symbolic poem

Yeats places the falcon front and center in the opening lines of the poem to represent
humanity's control over the world. The fact that the falcon "cannot hear" its master thus
symbolizes a loss of that control. To understand this symbol better, it's important to know a little
bit about falconry more generally. Falconry is a practice that goes back thousands of years, and
involves people training birds of prey to follow instructions. This was often for hunting purposes,
but is also practiced as a kind of art form. In both instances, the falcon represents humanity
exerting a type of intelligent control over the natural world. Killer birds like hawks and falcons
are brought under the spell of humans. Here, falcon refers to the forces that only work
productively when being disciplined. The falcon's inability to hear the falconer's call (lines 1 and
2) means that the relationship between them has been severed. This symbolizes chaos and
confusion, and specifically gestures towards a breakdown in communication. There is no centre
of attraction to hold them together and this creates confusion in the world. In the next lines, Yeats
says that the general tide of life is dimmed with blood and the “ceremony of innocence is
drowned”. This means that human civilization is in utter chaos in every political and cultural
aspect.
In lines 11 to 18, the speaker has a vision of a beast. Though the speaker doesn't name the
beast specifically, it is described in vivid and unsettling detail. The beast has a "lion body" and
the "head of a man." This makes it similar to a sphinx or a manticore, both of which were
mythical creatures said to be predatory towards humans. This type of hybrid creature is quite
common in various mythologies, and is meant to convey a kind of freakishness, a sense of nature
somehow going wrong. With its animal body and human head, perhaps this beast says something
about the "nightmare" to come. Though humans have tried to civilize themselves and improve
their world, perhaps their more beastly animal nature has only been hidden—not defeated. In
other words, the beast might symbolize that civilization itself is a kind of illusion. The human
head has a "gaze" that lacks empathy, suggesting that the beast is ready to kill. Given that the

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poem was written between the two world wars of the 20th century, this surreal image seems to
gesture towards humankind's ever-improving capacity for self-destruction.

Describe Second Coming as a prophetic poem

As the title of the poem suggests, Yeats poem is a prophetic poem that clearly shows
Christ’s second return to the earth after the world has been engulfed in sin and sorrow. The poem
was written after the first world war to depict hope for earthly occupants who have experienced
torture, suffering, death ,hunger and disillusionment .The writer uses imagery to create a sense of
waiting and arouse the readers interest in what is the second coming. Gyre is a word used to
mean how things were moving in a spiral movement after the Second World War to bring to the
reader's mind the theme of confusion. Turning and turning is used to create repetition of the
world’s cruel events which could present Christ’s Second Advent as revealed in the book of
revelation.
“The falcon cannot hear the falconer” is used symbolically. Falconer is the instructor of
peace who can be God. Here it means the world has reached a point of no return where evil and
the father of evil (the devil) is instructing the leaders of the world to seek war among nations.
Suffering is the centre stage where people go hungry, and prostitution and crime are the order of
the day, religious fanatics and false prophets are in the world. Concept of brotherhood has ceased
and the only theme in the world is “every man for himself”. Then things fall apart. The devil has
taken much control of the world. The word “mere anarchy” is used to mean only and very pure.
Writer uses these words in order to show the unleashing of chaos everywhere. Anarchy means
lawlessness and shows how the world’s justice has been buried in an abyss. The words
“ceremony of innocence is drowned” are an imagery used by the writer to show how the world is
not free again and the innocent must suffer for sins which they did not commit. William Butler
uses this word to show how the world was in the days of civilization and is not a place to admire.
The words “best lack conviction and bad are always full of passion” is a paraphrase. Here it can
also mean that the good people need power to govern others very well in the society and that has
been foiled by corruption and injustice. Powerful people on the contrary don’t deliver
accordingly when given the power but the wise governors say they want to be loved and those
people who love believe in wisdom and how they can use it for the benefit of others and
themselves. This leads to a vicious circle and confusion during the last days here on earth as

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William Butler puts it. Words like “revelation is coming” are used in order to further develop the
title of the poem and always to keep in the mind of the reader just as the title suggests, Christ
must return to the world.
The poet uses words like “spirits mundi” to bring the theme of religion in the poem and
develop the poem’s title. Words mean that in the world, there is a pure spirit which rests in the
minds of every human being and informs him about Godly issues. People then wait joyously and
obey Christ’s commandments so as to escape eternal torment. The poet uses words like “a
lion-like body with a man's head” to create fear among the readers and depict dangers associated
with the weird creature. Simile is used to show how unforgiving and cruel the beast is. The beast
is portrayed as passing through the desert. Like the falcon, the beast is a symbol of evil and
danger for the occupants of the earth. The beast represents the anti-Christ who comes before
Christ returns to cause a religious sway in the world. Rough beast’s arrival brings the idea of
suffering. Centuries of stony sleep is used symbolically to represent the suffering of the First
World War that can lead to the end of the world. In conclusion, the words used in the poem
clearly fit the message being communicated and they contribute to the development of the
“second coming” as a prophetic poem.

Describe the themes of the Second Coming

Theme 1: Civilization, Chaos, and Control

“The Second Coming” presents a nightmarish apocalyptic scenario, as the speaker
describes human beings’ increasing loss of control and tendency towards violence and anarchy.
Surreal images fly at the reader thick and fast, creating an unsettling atmosphere that suggests a
world on the brink of destruction. Yet for all its metaphorical complexity, “The Second Coming”
actually has a relatively simple message: it basically predicts that time is up for humanity, and
that civilization as we know it is about to be undone. Yeats wrote this poem right after World
War I, a global catastrophe that killed millions of people. Perhaps it’s unsurprising, then, that the
poem paints a bleak picture of humanity, suggesting that civilization’s sense of progress and
order is only an illusion.
With the above in mind, the first stanza’s challenging imagery starts to make more sense.
The “falconer,” representing humanity’s attempt to control its world, has lost its “falcon” in the
turning “gyre” (the gyre is an image Yeats uses to symbolize grand, sweeping historical

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movements as a kind of spiral). These first lines could also suggest how the modern world has
distanced people from nature (represented here by the falcon). In any case, it’s clear that
whatever connection once linked the metaphorical falcon and falconer has broken, and now the
human world is spiraling into chaos.
Indeed, the poem suggests that though humanity might have looked like it was making
progress over the past “twenty centuries”—via seemingly ever-increasing knowledge and
scientific developments, for example—the First World War proved people to be as capable of
self-destruction as ever. “Anarchy” was “loosed upon the world,” along with tides of blood
(which clearly evoke the mass death of war). “Innocence” was just a “ceremony,” now
“drowned.” The “best” people lack “conviction,” which suggests they're not bothering to do
anything about this nightmarish reality, while the “worst” people seem excited and eager for
destruction. The current state of the world, according to the speaker, proves that the
"centre"—that is, the foundation of society—was never very strong.
In other words, humanity’s supposed arc of progress has been an illusion. Whether the
poem means that humanity has lost its way or never knew it to begin with is unclear, but either
way the promises of modern society—of safety, security, and human dignity—have proven
empty. And in their place, a horrific creature has emerged—a grotesque perversion of the
“Second Coming” promised by Christianity, during which Jesus Christ is supposed to return to
the earth and invite true believers to heaven. This Second Coming is clearly not Jesus, but
instead a “rough beast” that humanity itself has woken up (perhaps, the first stanza implies, by
the incessant noise of its many wars).
With this final image of the beast, the poem indicates that while humanity seemed to get
more civilized in the 2,000 years that followed Christ's birth, in reality people have been sowing
the seeds of their own destruction all along. This “rough beast” is now “pitilessly” slouching
toward the birthplace of Jesus—likely in order to usher in a new age of “darkness” and
“nightmare.”
Theme 2: Morality and Christianity
“The Second Coming” offers an unsettling take on Christian morality, suggesting that it is
not the stable and reliable force that people believe it to be. The poem clearly alludes to the
biblical Book of Revelation from the start, in which, put simply, Jesus returns to Earth to save the
worthy. According to the Bible, this is meant to happen when humanity reaches the end times: an

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era of complete war, famine, destruction and hatred. The poem suggests that the end times are
already happening, because humanity has lost all sense of morality—and perhaps that this
morality was only an illusion to begin with.
In the first stanza, the speaker describes the chaos, confusion, and moral weakness that
have caused “things” to “fall apart.” In the second, the poem makes it clear that it’s a specifically
Christian morality that is being undone. In describing this wide-ranging destruction, the poem
asks whether Christian morality was built on weak foundations in the first place—that is, perhaps
humanity was never really moral, but just pretended to be. The first stanza's imagery develops
this sense of morality being turned upside down: good and evil; the "best" and "worst" are no
longer the reliable categories that they once were, replaced by “mere anarchy” (“mere” means
something like “pure” here). Humanity has drenched itself in blood—the “blood-dimmed
tide”—suggesting that morality was only ever a “ceremony,” a performance that conjured the
illusion that humankind was "innocent."
The poem suggests that no one—not even Jesus—can remedy this bleak reality. The
biblical Book of Revelation predicts a kind of final reckoning in which people essentially get
what they deserve based on their moral behavior and religious virtues; it indicates that Jesus will
come to save those who are worthy of being saved. But “The Second Coming” offers no such
comfort. Instead, in the first line of the second stanza the poem hints that a moment of divine
intervention must be at hand after the chaos of the first stanza ("surely some revelation is at
hand"). And, as it turns out, "some revelation" is at hand. But rather than returning the world to
peace, this new revelation makes things worse: a new and grotesque beast heads toward
Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, to be brought into the world. If Jesus was the figurehead for a
moral movement, this new beastly leader is the figurehead of a new world of “anarchy,” in which
the “best” people (likely the most moral people) lack the courage of their convictions and the
“worst” are allowed to thrive. In other words, the poem portrays Christian morality and prophecy
as weak, or even proven false, in the face of the violence and destruction that humans have
created.
The “blank gaze” of this new creature provides further evidence of just how hopeless the
situation is. This being might have the head of a “man,” but it doesn’t have moral
sense—instead, it is “pitiless.” It is arriving to preside over “blood-dimmed tides” and “drowned
innocence”—not a world of kindness, charity, and justice. Its sphinx-like appearance is also

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deliberately at odds with Christian imagery, which further suggests a break with Christian
morality. Meanwhile, the “Spiritus Mundi” mentioned by the poem is what Yeats thought of as
the world’s collective unconscious, from which the poet could draw insight. This vision of the
beast, then, is suggestive of a worldwide shift into “anarchy,” as the collective mind of humanity
lets go of morality.

2. Church Going - Philip Larkin

Once I am sure there's nothing going on

I step inside, letting the door thud shut.
Another church: matting, seats, and stone,
And little books; sprawlings of flowers, cut
For Sunday, brownish now; some brass and stuff
Up at the holy end; the small neat organ;
And a tense, musty, unignorable silence,
Brewed God knows how long. Hatless, I take off
My cycle-clips in awkward reverence,
Move forward, run my hand around the font.
From where I stand, the roof looks almost new-
Cleaned or restored? Someone would know: I don't.
Mounting the lectern, I peruse a few
Hectoring large-scale verses, and pronounce
"Here endeth" much more loudly than I'd meant.
The echoes snigger briefly. Back at the door
I sign the book, donate an Irish sixpence,
Reflect the place was not worth stopping for.

Yet stop I did: in fact I often do,

And always end much at a loss like this,
Wondering what to look for; wondering, too,
When churches fall completely out of use

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What we shall turn them into, if we shall keep
A few cathedrals chronically on show,
Their parchment, plate, and pyx in locked cases,
And let the rest rent-free to rain and sheep.
Shall we avoid them as unlucky places?

Or, after dark, will dubious women come

To make their children touch a particular stone;
Pick simples for a cancer; or on some
Advised night see walking a dead one?
Power of some sort or other will go on
In games, in riddles, seemingly at random;
But superstition, like belief, must die,
And what remains when disbelief has gone?
Grass, weedy pavement, brambles, buttress, sky,

A shape less recognizable each week,

A purpose more obscure. I wonder who
Will be the last, the very last, to seek
This place for what it was; one of the crew
That tap and jot and know what rood-lofts were?
Some ruin-bibber, randy for antique,
Or Christmas-addict, counting on a whiff
Of gown-and-bands and organ-pipes and myrrh?
Or will he be my representative,

Bored, uninformed, knowing the ghostly silt

Dispersed, yet tending to this cross of ground
Through suburb scrub because it held unspilt
So long and equably what since is found
Only in separation – marriage, and birth,

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And death, and thoughts of these – for whom was built
This special shell? For, though I've no idea
What this accoutred frowsty barn is worth,
It pleases me to stand in silence here;

A serious house on serious earth it is,

In whose blent air all our compulsions meet,
Are recognised, and robed as destinies.
And that much never can be obsolete,
Since someone will forever be surprising
A hunger in himself to be more serious,
And gravitating with it to this ground,
Which, he once heard, was proper to grow wise in,
If only that so many dead lie round.

Primary Theme

The poem ‘Church Going’ represents the thoughts of the poet as he enters a church. He is
an agnostic but accepts the importance of religion in human culture. In the poem, the speaker
questions the utility of churches and hence religion in our life and also seems to make an attempt
to understand their attraction. Failing to realize their allure, he wonders to himself what will
happen to the churches, once they go out of fashion and fall to disuse. The poem that seems to be
an inquiry into the role of religion in our lives today, describes the curiosity of the speaker on the
same subject. However, in the end the narrator comes to the conclusion that churches will never
go out of style, not only because of the integral role of religion in our society, but also because
mankind has an innate need to believe in something greater than themselves.

Summary and Analysis

This poem is written primarily from the first-person point of view, which gives readers
the sense that they are in the mind of the speaker, who describes his feelings, thought process,
sensory experience, observations, and realizations in almost stream-of-consciousness fashion.
Readers are there with him as he touches, sees, and smells the church and then awkwardly

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realizes that he has no hat to remove so removes his cycle clips. This window into the speaker's
mind makes his inner conflict readily apparent. He is conflicted. In the words of critic Kateryna
Schray, the poem explores all his "doubts, fears, and frustrations" about faith. He believes that
religion becomes obsolete. Yet, he admits that there is something about churches that keeps him
stopping by.
Stanza 1: The narrator begins to describe the church from his clumsy and ignorant
perspective. “Little books” refer to bibles or hymn books. In this context, sprawling is referring
to the flowers that have been picked for Sunday service and are spread out in all different
directions. The flowers are now brown, which we can infer to mean that Sunday was at least a
few days ago, and that no one has come by since then to throw them out. “Brass” could be
referring to the monumental brass that is commonly found in English churches. He continues by
saying “and stuff up at the holy end,” which shows how truly unimpressed and ignorant he really
is about the church. “The holy end” refers to the pulpit and the surrounding area. The organ is
small and neat, which we can then interpret to mean that the church is small or that the church is
poor; neat probably refers to it not being dusty, so there must be someone who comes there and
looks after the church. The air is described as being tense (anxious), musty (moldy; stale; tasting
or smelling of damp or decay), and silence so great that it cannot be ignored; probably he is
referring to the church itself, religion, or both. That “tense, musty” air brewed (to prepare by
steeping, boiling, or fermenting) for “God knows how long.” In a Christian’s opinion, the
narrator uses “God” in a disrespectful and blasphemous way. In respect for the church, the
narrator removes his cycle-clips (devices worn below the knee to keep trouser legs from getting
caught in a bicycle chain), in awkward reverence (a gesture of respect) since he has no hat. It
seems like the narrator is a bit dubious about his feelings towards the church; one minute he is
uninterested and rude, and the next he is showing respect.
Stanza 2: The narrator commands himself to “move forward;” he touches something,
but still appears to feel nothing. He is still describing the church in general physical terms rather
than the metaphysical ones that church is founded upon. He notices that the roof is semi-new; it
has been either restored or just cleaned. The clumsy narrator doesn’t care enough to know
whether it was cleaned or restored, because it is of no consequence to him; he doesn’t believe in
God or church. He steps up to the lectern (a stand to support a book for a standing reader) as if he
is the priest about to give a sermon. He peruses (to read over attentively or leisurely) the

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“hectoring [to intimate or dominate in a blustering way] large-scale verse” (biblical verses
printed in large type for reading aloud). He ends his sermon with “here endeth,” which is the
traditional way to wrap-up a Bible reading in church. In the narrator’s opinion, religion is on a
decline; so when he says “here endeth” he is not only talking about his sermon ending, he is also
talking about religion ending; he is also saying that he will be the last person to recite those
words in that church. He goes to the rear of the church and signs the guestbook; thus, taking part
in religion. He “donates an Irish sixpence,” which has no value in England. Donating valueless
coinage to a church can be interpreted in two ways: first, he donates to show his disrespect for
religion; or second, that donating to the church has no value.
Stanza 3: In stanza three, the narrator starts to imagine what the churches will be turned
into once their original purpose is gone. He stops at that church often, trying to figure out what
the allure of that place is. Religion confuses him, and he wonders what he is missing. He
envisions the churches becoming a sort of museum frequently on exhibit for those who have
never been to church or those who want to relive some childhood memory. The museums would
display the church artifacts: parchments, plate, and pyx, in locked glass cases, so that they can’t
be stolen; treating the church’s belongings in this way gives them value, which in the narrator’s
opinion is something that the church lacks. A parchment is the skin of an animal prepared for
writing on. The rest of the church will either work as a shelter to sheep or people when raining.
He says maybe the church will be considered as an unlucky place once it is closed down and in
ruins.
Stanza 4: He imagines the churches becoming places of superstition. Dubious women
will come after dark to perform various superstitious rituals like “touching a particular stone,”
picking “medicinal herbs for cancer,” or “walking a dead one.” The power of that holy ground
will remain in one form or another. Believing in superstition will end just like belief in God
ended. The only things that will be left are the “grass, weedy pavement, brambles”, and the
“sky.” The church will be overgrown with nature; what was once built from the earth will return
to the earth, leaving only a few superficial remnants.
Stanza 5: Stanza five is a continuation of the stanza four’s thought. The narrator of this
stanza is isolated and meditative, and appears to be less deceived by religion. The church
becomes more and more unrecognizable each week as the trees and plants overtake the structure.
The building's original purpose has become more and more obscure as well. He ponders who

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will be the very last person to seek out the church for its original purpose. Will it be one of the
maintenance men, who look after the church, or the ruin-bibber who will regularly visit the old
ruins, or will it be someone who misses the smell of Christmas or will the last the last visitor be
someone like the narrator; someone who doesn’t believe in God, but still wonders what
importance does it holds in a human life.
Stanza 6: The clumsy and ignorant narrator returns, but this time he appears to have
been touched by religion and found some new sort of respect for it. He knows that the “Ghostly
silt” was said to be spread over this “cross of ground” ; nonetheless, he tends to show an
inclination or tendency to travel there through the scrub of suburbia to try and experience the
power of the church himself. The Church has stood for so long without being destroyed, so there
must be something there. This “special shell” (i.e. churches) was built to celebrate marriages,
births, and the lives of those who have died. The narrator shows respect for the church and
religion by saying that even though he doesn’t know what this “frowsty barn is worth,” it still
“pleases him to stand in silence here.” Silence connotes comfort; he doesn’t feel the need to
disrespect the church by making noise any longer, he simply enjoys his surroundings.
Stanza 7: Stanza seven shows the narrator as being an independent thinker; he realizes
religion will always have a place in the hearts of man, because they need to believe in something
that is greater than themselves. Churches will never fall out of use. Until about the nineteenth
century, the word “serious” meant religious; so saying “a serious house on serious earth” means a
religious house on holy ground. The church is where all of our compulsions are realized. The
word “destiny” is given to major life events in order to explain them. God gives humans
guidelines to live their lives, which is something that a lot of people need. Religion teaches you
“right” from “wrong;” thus, religion becomes a necessary entity to keep society running
smoothly. People inherently want answers: why was I born? Why did such and such have to
happen to me? Religion is able to answer these questions, which gives us a purpose. Only those
who are dead know the truth about whether there is a heaven or not.

The themes of Church Going

Theme 1: Religion
The primary theme of the poem—clear from its title, "Church Going"—is religion. The speaker
is not a religious person, and he takes a dismissive, even disdainful, attitude toward religious

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belief. Clearly, he sees religion as something quickly becoming obsolete—something "going," as
the title says. Religious belief is going away, fading into the past. The dying, browning flowers in
the church symbolize the dying of religion. The musty smell of the church also emphasizes this
aging, dying religion. The speaker then imagines what will happen when "churches fall
completely out of use." He accepts this as an inevitability, wondering wryly whether people will
keep a few cathedrals as museums, with their various ritual objects on display in locked cases.
The use of "chronically" to describe the way people might keep these cathedrals open adds to the
sense that the speaker sees this possibility as regrettable, but not unrealistic. He is doubtless
aware that, after all, such museums of religious artifacts already exist, and some cathedrals
already have gift shops.
As the poem moves forward, the speaker speculates on the relationship between religion
and superstition. Religious belief, like any long-held belief, deteriorates into superstition, which
then also fades away: "But superstition, like belief, must die." He notes that as religion fades
away, its original purpose will become increasingly obscure, just as the church building will
likely be overgrown with weeds. However, in the last few stanzas, he takes a more respectful
tone toward the church and, by extension, religion, noting its important function. It has held the
records of marriage, birth, and death. It has been a place where people's "compulsions" are
elevated to "destinies." It has been, and may still be, a place of wisdom.
Theme 2: Time and Death
The passage of time is a common theme in Larkin's poetry. "Church Going" is not the
only poem with "Going" in the title. He wrote "Going," which also appeared in The Less
Deceived, and "Going, Going," which appeared in his 1974 collection High Windows. Time,
loss, aging, and death often intertwine in Larkin's poetry, as they do in life. Time is a destructive
force on the church in "Church Going", both as the building physically ages and as religion
becomes more irrelevant to modern sensibilities.
In the first stanza, he notes that the church has a musty odor that has been brewing "God
knows how long." The church is already painfully old, and getting older with each passing
Sunday service. He reads the lesson from the lectern and pronounces "Here endeth" too loudly.
This "Here endeth," echoing in the empty church, emphasizes the old-fashioned language of the
church and also its literal end. Speculating on the future of the church, as weeks pass and the
weeds and brambles overgrow the building, also stresses the passage of time. He imagines

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churches falling "completely out of use," maintained only to display artifacts or support
superstitions that themselves "must die."
The speaker's mind jumps easily from the decline of the church and the religion it
represents to his own decline, and death, as time passes. Stanza 6 is characterized by the
awareness of death; the last line suggests that wisdom comes from close proximity to death. The
shift seems appropriate; religious practice and belief include coming to terms with death.

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