Critical Appreciation of Philip Larkin’s "At Grass"


          Philip Larkin’s ‘At Grass’ taken from ‘The Less Deceived’ is essentially a Movement Poem which depicts Larkin’s close scrutiny of life , its maturity and death.

          The poem is about the race horses in their retirement. However, Larkin himself announced that he has never seen any race horse in the field of horse – racing, in which people stock money. Perhaps, he was inspired by a news-reel film on Brown Jack, the race horse in its retirement. The race horses that he describes are no more in their glory; these superannuated horses no longer participated in race. With case and comfort under the cool shade of trees they are grazing:

“The eye can hardly pick them out
From the cold shade they shelter in,
Till wind distresses tail and mane;
Then one crops grass, and moves about
- The other seeming to look on -
And stands anonymous again”


These horses has now lost individual identity but once, fifteen years ago these race horses were famous, own distinction in races and achieved glamorous fits, a vast crowd of people including the noble ladies used to attain the field of race and stock their money on the horses of their choice. In the month of hot June they used to park their curse outside the arena of the race course and if their favourite horse won the race they felt jubilant:

“Yet fifteen years ago, perhaps
Two dozen distances surficed
To fable them : faint afternoons
Of Cups and Stakes and Handicaps,
Whereby their names were artificed
To inlay faded, classic Junes – “
 The poet is not sure about the fact that whether these horses are nostalgic of their glorious past or not. They no longer have to wait for the signal to run. Years rolled on, the horses are now enjoying leisurely. Their names remain in almanac only. No curious watcher stops to watch them. None looks at them through the window with a binocular. They are now waiting for the evening and the groom and his boy will come to bridle them away to the stable:

“Summer by summer all stole away,
The starting-gates, the crowd and cries -
……
Have slipped their names, and stand at ease,
……..
Only the grooms, and the grooms boy,
With bridles in the evening come.”

          The poem belongs to movement poem and underneath its simplicity it identifies the poet’s mentality which is stripped of its glamour and the poet becomes an ordinary man speaking in ordinary language which sounds prosaic. What Larkin tries to bring home is that like youth old age is a necessary part of life and we must accept it calmly when it apprehends us. ‘At Grass’ is a serene picture of old age. The bright days of youth have passed on and the sunset of life is approaching.

          The poem is also taken as a political allegory where there is emotionally complex treatment of contemporary English society. The superannuated race horses indicate England’s loss of power and glory. It is a post imperial poem and uses “language of imperial achievement and that of imperial loss”. The image of ‘squadrons’ are the long cry of England’s imperialism. The race horses, once famous, are English ancestors, famous generals, perhaps who can now ‘stand at ease’. The race horses symbolize something about success and failure and neglects to notice the threatening atmosphere of the modern social democracy.

          In ‘At Grass’ “provinciality perhaps always contains within in the sting of distance”. It is a poem of post-war period, and whether the landscape is native or not , it has usually been at one remove, and seen through the window of a train or even of a house. The poetry of place is usually poetry of displacements. Therefore, the distance theme has become the most important feature of the poem.

          The distance in space has become the very ground of freedom for the refined horses. Though their names have slipped into oblivion and anonymity the horses are not perhaps sad. They have reconciled themselves with the change of time and space. Larkin is here realistic and sensibly accepts this.


Notes & Some key points: 
  1. Philip Larkin is noted Movement Poet which refers to the group of poets of the 1950s. The other notable movement poets are John Wain, Kingsly Amis, Thomas Gunn, Donald Davie and Robert Conquest etc. In the poems of Movement Poets the inflated romanticism and stylistic excess of the 30s and 40s were replaced by ironic, realistic and anti-romantic stance. "At Grass" reflects on the lives of retired racehorses and their loss of purpose, highlighting the fleeting nature of life and the inevitability of death. 
  2. Larkin's use of vivid imagery to portray the horses' aging and decline
  3. The melancholic tone of the poem, which emphasizes the horses' lost glory
  4. The theme of mortality and the reminder that all living things must eventually face death
  5. The poem's commentary on the role of animals in human society and the consequences of exploiting them for entertainment or profit.

Comments

  1. Thank you very much!

    I am doing this poem as part of my English literature exam and the analysis is extremely helpful - especially the bit about British imperialism which is useful for an alternative interpretation.

    ReplyDelete
  2. this anallysis is really helpful.thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. SIR U R TO ME IS GOD,SALUTE U BCOZ THE WORD THANK WILL APPEAR MISER B4 U.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Couldn't you be bothered to get his poem spelled correctly? "The eye can hardly pick them out
    From the cold shade they shelter in,
    Till wind distresses tail and main;" FFS - "main" should be "mane" - a horse's tail and MANE. It appals me that you care so little about getting this poem right.

    ReplyDelete

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