Philip Larkin, The Whitsun Weddings Review

“The Whitsun Weddings is a collection of poems by...”

Written on: 16/02/2005 by Tex

The Whitsun Weddings is a collection of poems by Philip Larkin to do with death, depression and disappointment. This may make you think that the book will be dreary and something to avoid, but Larkin's poems actually seem to represent what we all feel sometimes but just can't accept.



The poems are well-observed and sometimes witty, spread throughout the book in such a way that no two poems of the same theme are next to each other. My personal 'favourites' of this collection are the title poem 'The Whitsun Weddings' and 'First Sight' the tale of a lamb's first moments in the world. Philip Larkin is a great talent and even though his poems may not be what we want to hear sometimes, he still should not be avoided.