Sad Steps

"Posterity" by Philip Larkin (1974)

This is an amusing and self-deprecating poem, in which the speaker—a poet very like Larkin—explains how he has an imagined American biographer who is thoroughly bored with his project, which he is only writing so he can get tenure at his university. The biographer is under no illusions about his subject, whom he describes as “One of those old-type natural fouled-up guys,” hinting at the disgruntled persona inhabiting so many of Larkin’s poems.

"Vers de Société" by Philp Larkin (1974)

Vers de Société is a French phrase meaning “society verse.” Often such verse in English is light and playful or ironic. The speaker in this poem has been invited to a social event but he much prefers solitude to company—reading under lamplight and looking out and seeing the moon. Nowadays—he is older now—he finds he does not like solitude as much as he used to, and sitting down under the lamp brings “Not peace, but other things” (a bit like how the speaker reacts to the sight of the moon in “Sad Steps”), so he decides to accept the invitation, even though he knows he does not really want to go.

"Aubade" by Philip Larkin (1977)

It seems that from an early age, Larkin was more conscious of the inevitability of death than might be considered common. “Aubade,” regarded by many as one of his greatest poems, describes the horror the speaker feels at the prospect of oblivion, “the total emptiness forever.” He knows he cannot escape it but he cannot accept it, either.

"The Trees" by Philip Larkin (1974)

Not all of Larkin’s poems adopt a pessimistic point of view. “The Trees,” which appeared in the same collection as “Sad Steps,” is one of Larkin’s most popular poems. It is a celebration of the renewal of life as trees start to show new leaves in the spring. The renewal is also seen as an expression of grief for the death that took place the previous winter, but come May, the trees have the ability to start life anew: to “Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.”