Writing Prompt "Here"

I'm going to break some rules with this one and use the word "I" a little bit. Before I attempt to analyze "Here" by Philip Larkin, I would just like to say that maybe we should go about analyzing poems, the techniques poets use, and the ins and outs of poetry before we do any formal essay on them. Otherwise, I don't see how a well written essay can come out of a subject we have no idea how to tackle. I may as well put on a football helmet and try to bring down Marion Barber. So with that, I'll go ahead and attempt to pick out what the poet used in his work to help express his feelings toward "Here."

The poet of "Here," Philip Larkin, uses grand descriptions of just about every visible object he encounters wherever "Here" is. The suits are cheap, the wheat-fields are high as hedges, and the doors are plate-glass and swinging. There's not a noun in these stanzas that is not coupled with a adjective to help give the reader an image of the place Larkin is describing. You can see, smell, and practically feel this land that is being described. These intimate descriptions have a reason for being in the poem, they're not just for show.

These descriptions appear to paint a picture of an industrial town, right near a river or some body of water. There is not just one word that creates this, it is the work as a whole that gives the impression that this is a factory-laden city with low-yielding fields on its outskirts. The town has blue-collar workers that go to work during the week and hit the downtown's simple shopping district during the weekends. It's a very ordinary town, very little happens here but work and living life, all which is exemplified by the poet's colorful details.

To add on to the descriptions of the town, the poet doesn't go crazy with his rhyme scheme. Rather, he makes the writings seem natural and the rhymes just comes as he goes. It does not seem to be an out and out poem and it ends up coming across as plain man's account of his town, nothing fancy, no frills, just what the place looks like to man who has seen it every day of his life. The man's descriptions show a silent peace with living in the town. As if he smiles on the inside upon gazing at all that surrounds him. Through this viewpoint, the author conveys his own subdued admiration of this town of industry, of hardworking men, and of the isolated lives the lead.

The author feels comforted in the coldness of this town. It is the place he lived in or by, and through his years experiencing everything the town had to offer, realized the beauty that could be found in everything around him. The town is harsh to outsiders, but to the author, it is merely a matter of perception. The descriptions and tone demonstrate a town that can be found everywhere in America, towns that only its residents can love.