A S L 3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Chichester Cathedral, Northern Ireland, Serious Money
Document Summary
Session 11: literature after 1945: poetry, philip larkin and the movement. Literary group of 1950s and early 1960s: poetry collections new lines (1956) and new. Saw themselves as a counter movement to modernism. They found that modernist literature was elitist and arcane. Reaction against modernism; new emphasis on social, moral questions; also frequently satirical. Poets wanted to return to a simpler form of poetry. Members of the movement believed that poetry should use simple language, draw on popular themes, and make use of traditional (popular) forms. Themes: everyday topics, aging, being lonely, (end of) love, part of a community, status of religion. Returned to traditional and conservative forms of writing. Key representatives: kingsley amis, philip larkin, elizabeth jennings. Larkin turned against modernist poems that cannot be understood without reference beyond their own limits. Larkin: one of the best loved poets from 20th century, worked as librarian for university of hull and there wrote his poems.
