Wild Oats

'Wild Oats' is believed to offer an insight into Philip Larkin's love affair with Jane Exall, and his attempt to get to her through dating her 'friend in specs'. The poem explores the idea of unattainable beauty, and the unreachable element of love. Jane used to often appear in the Library where Larkin worked in Wellington with her friend, Ruth Bowman. Larkin was engaged to Ruth but during, and after, this period of time, he sent frequent letters to Jane, who he referred to as a 'bosomy English rose', and was held as the object of his affections. 'Wild Oats' describes the fickle love which Larkin held for Jane and also, like many of his other poems, presents love as rather a negative thing, with a lot of potential for destruction.
     The shallowness of Larkin's love, or more likely lust, for Jane is portrayed clearly in the first stanza: 'Faces in those days sparked / The whole shooting match off, and I doubt / If ever one had like hers: But it was the friend I took out'. These lines show that love was based on appearance, presenting a theme of objectification and love vs. lust. The fact that Larkin likes Jane but takes out her friend, Ruth, makes him appear cruel and uncaring. In the second stanza he goes on to describe how his relationship with Ruth lasted for seven years, and they 'Wrote over four hundred letters'; this amount of letters sent back and forth between the lovers seems odd, and depicts the fact that their relationship was very distant, probably due to the fact that Larkin really wanted Jane. He tells the reader of how he believes he 'met beautiful twice'. This is believed to be a reference to the two times that Larkin met with Jane - once in Leicester and another time in Shrewsbury, both in 1950. Both times he believed that Jane was 'trying...not to laugh'; by stating this, Larkin presents himself as extremely unsure of himself, and completely lacking in self-confidence. This is supported in the fourth line of the first stanza: 'And her friend in specs I could talk to.' This makes the reader think that Larkin does not believe himself good enough, or even capable of talking to, Jane, and so instead he targets Ruth who he appears to think is more like him - she is less attractive, and therefore not unattainable in the way that Jane is.
     The final stanza of 'Wild Oats' presents the agreement between Ruth and Larkin that he was 'too selfish, withdrawn, / And easily bored to love.' The word 'agreement' suggests that Larkin holds the same opinion of himself that Ruth does; he does not see himself as being capable of love, only of lust, and he appears to give his seven-year relationship up without any fight, further proving that he never really cared for Ruth in the way that he should have - he did not love her. This mention of Larkin's selfishness concerning love links to his other poems 'Dockery and Son' and 'Self's the Man'.
     The poem ends by discussing the two pictures of Jane that Larkin kept in his wallet for twenty years. The photographs are referred to as 'Unlucky charms', and it could be argued that this is a portrayal of the fact that nothing around him will ever match up to this fantasy woman from all those years ago. This ends the poem with a miserable, depressing tone, and I think the overall view of love in 'Wild Oats' is that it is imperfect, and can never quite match up to it's reputation. This links to 'Love Songs in Age' and 'Faith Healing'.

Love Songs In Age

This poem presents the life of a widow who re-visits some old sheets of music from her past, which remind her of the love she previously experienced. The woman appears to have many memories connected to these sheets of music; a happy past is linked to the memories, much happier than the present. This is shown in the first stanza through Larkin's description of the sheets: 'One bleached from lying in a sunny place, / One marked in circles by a vase of water, / One mended, when a tidy fit had seized her, / And coloured, by her daughter'. These visual markings represent cheerful memories; they hold connotations of jolly weather, flowers and new life (her child). The fact that one of the sheets was 'mended' portrays a sense of faith, and it could be argued that Larkin is depicting the woman's determination to not give up on her relationship, that she believed it was not to just be thrown away when the going got tough. The sheet would have held a sentimental value for her, a meaning beyond what it would seem, and for this reason she could not have just got rid of it. Towards the end of the first stanza, Larkin describes how the songs had been left untouched until 'in widowhood / She found them, looking for something else'. This presents the idea that it was by mistake that the woman re-discovered the songs, and it was at a time that she was vulnerable and lonely.
     Larkin uses many poetic devices in line seven. He tells the reader of how the sheets of music 'had waited' - this use of personification makes the sheets appear as an even clearer representation of the woman's loved one, and gives the illusion that they hold the ability to make her feel emotions, just as a person could. The caesuras used create a pause, depicting a sense of waiting, complimenting the word 'waited'. By using alliteration with the words 'waited' and 'widowhood', Larkin creates a sense of repetition, possibly echoing the way in which the woman is repeating the past in her mind.
     In the second stanza, Larkin contrasts the woman's past - which is linked to the songs - with her present, and how her view of love has been altered over time. As she looks over the songs, she 'Relearn[s]' the emotions which came with the music, such as the 'unfailing sense of being young' and the 'certainty of time laid up in store'. These memories are presented in a optimistic manner; the feeling that the two lovers had their whole lives ahead of them, that they had so much yet to come. These feelings come rushing back to her, and she can still remember them and feel them as clearly 'As when she played them first.'
     In the third stanza, Larkin presents love as a 'glare of... much mentioned brilliance'; the word 'glare' makes love seem overwhelming, painful and negative. Larkin is also using sarcasm when he talks about how much love is mentioned - he presents it as an over-done idea which is discussed too much. The word 'glare' is contrasted with the word 'sailing' in the third line of the second stanza. This word is peaceful and calm, the area of love which 'promis[es] to solve, and satisfy'. Love holds the elusive promise that it can solve everything, make everything better, but Larkin claims this to be untrue. He narrates to the reader how hard the woman finds it to 'pile [the songs] back, to cry' and eventually admit to herself that love 'had not done so then, and could not now'. Larkin's use of cadence in this final line gives certainty to the statement; his view on love appears unchangeable, and the tone of the poem ends in a pessemistic, hopeless tone, contrasting to the joy shown at the beginning. It seems that he is saying love cannot resolve anything, and the experience of youthful love that the woman is now reminiscing are gone. With age has come realisation and disappointment, and although she wishes to relive the past, she can't, as she has learnt now that love does not 'solve' nor 'satisfy', and it cannot live up to it's impossible expectations.