Philip Larkin "Church Going"

Philip Larkin's "Church Going" conveys a strong theme of absence in religion for both the poet himself and every attendant of modern church.  From the very beginning Larkin mentions the disbelief of religion inside of the church even while the sermon is going on.  As he talks about his own thoughts, his belief with religion is absent as he fills an empty seat on a pew with an empty shell of a man.  He ponders about the other participants of this tradition and wonders why they all attend also.  Do they really believe in it, are they like him, or do they all congregate to relieve themselves of past sins in order to cleanse the palate?  Larkin erupts these types of question through the poem as he establishes another theme through his many questions.  He strongly persists on the idea that God may becoming absent in religion and people due to the church and its ways.  He forms the idea that the church is killing religion in itself because we are forced into a confined building and expected to praise instead of actually wanting to; relaying the idea that it has become more of a conditioned  habit than a faithful tradition.  

Robert Lowell "For the Union Dead"

                "For the Union Dead" portrays the evolution and advancement of society while the great old historic monuments and events of the past are left to dissolve like faint memories.  Lowell concentrates on the social aspects of society and how in his point in time there is an albescence of gratuity for those that have sacrificed so much to establish equality.  He also vaguely indicates the political factors that went into creating the equality by mentioning prime figures of the Civil War.  Colonel Shaw was the only man that took on the duties to lead an all-black regiment to fight against the republic.  Lowell incorporates a presence of familiarity and loyalty by displaying some slang from his era in stanza thirteen quoting, "Shaw's father wanted no monument/except the ditch,/where his son's body was thrown/ and lost with his 'niggers (48-51).'"  Obviously Lowell wanted his audience to feel a sense of remorse for destroying and forgetting about the history that helped shaped America for personal satisfaction and comfort.  

Shel Silverstein - "The Perfect High"

Shel Silverstein delivers a very unique twist on what would be a children's poem in "The Perfect High."  The story follows the druggie named  Gimme-Some Roy who seeks that perfect high through effort, determination, and pain.  He follows his dream of attaining the high that's going to satisfy him forever once he snorts, smokes, or sticks it in his veins.  Through the perils of the mountain to get that perfect high he must go through the guru Baba fats that knows the secrets of the getting it.  But in the end, Baba Fats leads him down a new road full of more crap than the last.  The irony is that Baba is in a state of being high as he talks to the Lord while sitting on top of a mountain completely naked before sending the persistent  youth to nowhere.   The captivating  story and rhythm make the poem memorable and leaves an impression of how quizzical and crappy life can be. 

blog on howl

            Allen Ginsberg's  "Howl"  is like a love letter to the dark underground of drugs and filth that the author occupied while he was free to roam the underbelly of New York and New Jersey.  To start off, I really did not enjoy it for the fact that it just sounded like one long continuous rant from the author.  He depicts the humans of the city society in a raunchy and ridiculous way that's seems childish because he can't control himself.  It's almost as he needs to curse in some areas to get his point across to the audience but in fact he doesn't really need to.  I will say that the way he rally's and combines his word creates a distinct diction about the poem that leaves an imprint.  To me this seems like a rant, but its slightly less annoying knowing that it does fulfill the purpose of describing the specifics of that time period related to that area.  It creates the notion that this time period, not everything was fine and dandy and that everyone lived a "Great Gatsby" life but revels that the American dream, and the road to it, was corrupt just as the society itself.