A recipient of a Keats House Bursary, his poems have appeared in the Times Literary Supplement and elsewhere.
Larkin has the whole church poetry thing wrapped up. 'Church Going' is the church poem, and, in my opinion, one of the poems of the Twentieth Century (it's a bit like Marmite, you either seem to love it or loathe it).
I can't help entering a church without thinking of it. My local, St Botolph's at Chevening in Kent, had an event last Sunday and I nipped down. I'm not religious as such, I'm like Larkin - not bothered about the liturgy, but the church space, the architecture and the beauty of the distant past mixed directly with the now. The sense of sacrosanct tradition - which is how it should be; the physical church as an institution, part of society's fabric, rooting and uniting us.
St Botolph’s that day was slightly different to that written about by Larkin. It wasn’t empty for a start, and a female chorister sang arias (I think) whilst people viewed the cloisters and pews covered in flowers and stalls celebrating this and that - 50 years of the WI, that sort of thing.
But inside the door was a prominent font, recalling the opening line of Larkin's second stanza: "Move forward, run my hand around the font...", and the roof had recently been brilliantly restored: "...the roof looks almost new - / cleaned, or restored? Someone would know: I don't."
Yes, Larkin did the church poem, and there's just no point in trying to follow after him as it's impossible to avoid mimicking his voice.
But I've given it a go anyway. I started writing one months ago, and have this first stanza, but anything after that falls away:
There is a reredos, and the whiff of incense,
so it must be High Church - unlocked too,
and unmanned; its postcard village situ
obviously not rife with vandals,
though concessions to the modern include
bulbs instead of candles, and no rood.
The ghost of Larkin is almost flesh in those six lines. It's an abominable echo. As Larkin wrote in his second stanza: "The echoes snigger briefly."
[2009-06-26]