Philip Larkin’s Poem Church Going Essay

In this passage, King’s presentation of logos is genius. He effectively shows the clergymen two sides of the community, the one of complacency and the other of hatred and cynicism. In this excerpt he does not attempt

This establishes the tone for the remainder of the letter. King is also careful to end the letter on this same note which leaves the reader with a feeling of respect and harmony regardless of whether there is an agreeance of all points. This is a great decision since the clergy make take offense to some of the criticism that King makes regarding the church. King warns them that the church was in danger of losing its authenticity and the future of the church will be nothing more than an irrelevant social club. In particular, his declaration that every day he meets young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust (par 34) is a strong use of words that can provoke discontent with his fellow

Being punished as a young child, life seemed harsh and uneasy. The way parents would yell at you, tell you what to do, what not to do, and they always seemed to have gotten in the way of doing what us children wanted to do. It was all done for a reason however. The "cruelty" our parents showed us was out of love. They just want to use their experience to help guide our lives to success. With their guidance we are given opportunities to change some of the things we do for the better. Parents were raised a generation before us, therefore making them not as "chat-friendly" as someone whose our age. Mom and dad have helped in so many ways that we would not be able to name them all. From teaching us about nutrition to what words not to

Early in the poem, Jarman points out the “sermon’s trenchant commentary on the world’s ills” (2-3), illustrating a mutilation of the connectedness of the congregation focusing instead on the very real but nonetheless generic ills of the world. Furthermore, the phrase “hand-wringing” (4) seems to describe the shaking of hands as the congregation members greet each other with the peace of Christ, again listing the routine of the congregation. Although, it appears to be more inclined towards a description of a helpless, passive anxiety that corresponds well with a sermon designed to impose guilt without inspiring action. Jarman goes on to compare the persistent nature of sin even in moments of peace with “motes of dust ride, clinging” (8). In this line, Jarman suggests that the congregation is sinful even after all the doctrinal procedure done to become clean from sin. Even the structure of the octave suggests a conventional and never changing sonnet form with 14 lines, a perfect Italian rhyming scheme, and a fascinating iambic pentameter alone, that inspires nothing more than an

It is a genuine subject this emergency, in essence, of confidence yet the adolescent exaggeration as found in line 11-15's "“Maybe it was the demon-stoked rotisseries of purgatory where we would roast hundreds of years for the smallest of sins” demonstrates the impressibility of a youthful personality being advised how to live. At the point when the poem moves from consideration over the purpose behind leaving the storyteller appears to settle on the last bit of excess that will be tolerated being the point at which he wore his "space-helmet to catechism." From this point it is a fantastical retelling of the kid gliding up through the top of the congregation and getting away from the congregation. The polar way of the subject full grown is communicated wonderfully in the picture of his body being "cold on one side and hot on the other" "in the darkness and brightness of

In the third stanza, the diction of “heaven” and “noble” allows the speaker to craft an image of an almost godlike juggler. This view of the juggler creates the tone of amazement and ardent which breaks through the previous gloomy description of the earth in the first stanza which “falls/ So in our hearts from brilliance” (lines 3-4). This reveals that the world the juggler has made, unlike the earth which the speaker doesn’t appear to have fond feelings of, is a joyful and light-hearted place that the speaker is easily captivated by. As the juggler “reels that heaven in” (line 16), creates an atmosphere of an almost unearthly experience. This description of the juggler as a master of spiritual elements allows readers to view how the speaker's attitude is uplifted and enlightened.

Critics argue that such funds, which are often used for the purpose of constructing or decorating extravagant cathedrals, ought to be used solely for the benefit of the poor and needy. In contrast, Fr. Havens expressed that all things which are good and beautiful glorify God and He has given us talents of creativity and craftsmanship that we may glorify Him. In other words, places of worship are constructed and beautified so ornately, not necessarily to be lavish or to abuse donations, but because giving and doing one’s best represents strong devotion to God and willingness to remember Him always. Our best and most beautiful creations can emphasize God’s eternal capacity to create, to organize and create life and meaning where there was only unorganized matter

          Ever since man has chosen to write down his history, organized religion has been a prominent topic and has influenced and shaped all people’s lives. There have always been believers and non-believers. Since the beginning, non-believers have been persecuted by inquisitions, prosecuted by witch trials, and murdered by stoning and crucifying for even questioning the “truth” about a supreme being and supposed crimes against that being. Religion had a purpose in earlier times to explain life, but today science provides more concrete answers. Religious beliefs are old and outdated and people should trust the scientific facts that have been proven, not what has been

He juxtaposes the high hopes he had held for the church based on its supposedly moral standing with its actual state of hypocrisy in which it worships God but turns a blind eye to racial injustice. King then emphasizes this hypocrisy using parallel structure and rhetorical questions to support his argument. By addressing the clergymen directly and using positive words like “hope”, “justice”, and “moral”, he also appeals to pathos to remind his audience of the values that the church stood for and call it to return to those values. Next, King alludes to the early church to show the church’s “powerful” beginnings. He uses a metaphor comparing the early church to a thermostat instead of a thermometer, emphasizing the active role the church must take in standing up for its beliefs and influencing society. By referring to the early Christians as “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators”, King links himself to them, increasing his credibility, and rebukes the clergymen for criticizing him using similar terms. He also explains that the early Christians “pressed on” despite resistance from society because they were “called to obey God rather than men”, further connecting his work with God’s will and implying that anyone who challenged him was challenging God Himself. King then continues to describe the present state of the church. He juxtapositions the strength of the early church with the weakness of the contemporary church and uses negative words like “weak”, “ineffective”, and “uncertain” to show his audience how the church has degraded from its original status. King’s subsequent declaration that the “judgment of God is upon the church as never before” invokes the authority of God to evoke a sense of fear from his audience, thus appealing to pathos. He supports his claim with a cause-and-effect statement that appeals to logos

The second stanza discusses the state of mind of those waiting by the deathbed of the speaker. They have obviously been crying by the suggestion that their eyes had "wrung them dry." Through this description that they have stopped their weeping it is implied that they have now accepted the death of the speaker. In the second line of this stanza, the people are holding their breath for "that last Onset - when the King be witnessed." The King is probably God in this context and they are all awaiting his entering the room to take the soul of the speaker. The word onset as defined in Webster's Dictionary is "a setting out; start; beginning." This suggests that the death of the speaker is a beginning of an eternal life in heaven and not necessarily just an end to mortal life. Everyone in the room is expectant of the presence of God to carry the speaker to the this celestial afterlife.

Outraged by society's apathy towards nature, the speaker experiences an angry outburst as he endeavors to respond to this problem. Exclaiming, "Great God!" (9) the speaker unleashes his fury towards society. He is no longer merely frustrated, but enraged by the unmoved society in which he lives. In the remaining five lines of the poem the speaker alters his discourse from his disgust towards society, to providing a resolution, albeit an impossible resolution to this crisis. Rather than become indifferent to nature, the speaker would rather turn to a pagan Greek religion as a means of lessening his frustration. Since the gods are figures that are intimately

The poem begins with the poet noticing the beauty around her, the fall colors as the sun sets “Their leaves and fruits seemed painted, but was true, / Of green, of red, of yellow, mixed hue;” (5-6). The poet immediately relates the effects of nature’s beauty to her own spiritual beliefs. She wonders that if nature here on Earth is so magnificent, then Heaven must be more wonderful than ever imagined. She then views a stately oak tree and

The last two lines act as a slap in the face. Every element works toward death, and the speaker almost slips into eternal rest. One can see him, putting the

The speaker feels that faith has disappeared and has separated her or him from the "ebb and flow" of life. This lost faith is compared to a sea that is very similar to the sea described in the first stanza. Words of lightness and beauty are used once more. The shore "lays like the folds of a bright girdle furl'd." There is a sense of encompassing joy in this phrase. This bright and joyful image is then contrasted by the last five lines of the stanza. "The Sea of Faith" has now retreated, like a tide withdraws from the shore. It is interesting to note the similarities and differences between the words of these five lines and the words from the first stanza. The sweet "night-air"becomes "the night-wind," and the cliffs that were once "glimmering and vast" are still vast, but only dreary edges. The sea that was "round" and "full" has now left the world empty and exposed. Similarly, the speaker has lost his faith and feels alone and vulnerable.

The Recurring Theme of Death in the Poetry of Philip Larkin. In reading the poetry of Philip Larkin for the first time, one is struck by the characteristically glum atmosphere that pervades most of his poems. The vast majority of his verse is devoted to what is generally taken to be negative aspects of life, such as loneliness and dejection, disappointments, loss, and the terrifying prospect of impending death. Evidently, there are uplifting and humorous sides to his work as well, but for certain reasons Larkin is invariably identified with a downhearted, pessimistic temper and tone of voice, conveying a constant sense of failure and of disappointment that underlies all the more specific emotions and reflections of individual