Larkin’s “An Arundel Tomb” is many things—a meditation on death, a tribute to the power of art, a celebration of love, an evocation of England’s long traditions and history. It can also be read as a rueful expression of doubt about the conclusions to which it points. The fascination the poem exerts perhaps lies in…
Tag: Philip Larkin
An Arundel Tomb – Historical Context
The Movement When Larkin wrote “An Arundel Tomb,” in 1956, he was one of a group of young poets in England known as the Movement. The term was first used in an article in the literary magazine The Spectator in 1954. Larkin’s name was not mentioned, since The Less Deceived, the volume that made him…
An Arundel Tomb – Literary Devices
Rhyme The poem is rhymed and follows a regular rhyme-scheme of abbcac; that is, line 1 (designated a) rhymes with line 5; line two (designated b) rhymes with line 3; and line 4 (designated c) rhymes with line 6. Most of the rhymes are perfect, or true rhymes, in that the sounds correspond exactly to…
An Arundel Tomb – Themes
Love The theme of love is first hinted at in the last two lines of the second stanza, in which it is revealed that the earl and his wife are depicted as holding hands. This detail is celebrated twice: the reference to the “sharp, tender shock” that the speaker feels when he first notices it,…
An Arundel Tomb – Summary
Stanza 1 The first two lines of “An Arundel Tomb” describe the stone effigies of two figures, an earl and a countess, lying side by side on top of their tomb. Their faces are not distinct, and the formal, dignified clothes in which the sculptor has represented them (“their proper habits”) are shown only vaguely….