What strikes me after reading this poem is the level of provocation that is used. The very first line contains the word fuck, which isn’t generally considered as being an acceptable expression in contemporary English. Considering the year in which this poem was first published, in 1971, the use of the word is very surprising because at that time it was far more unacceptable and provocative than today. Another thing that I find very surprising is that he insults the reader’s parents and then goes on to insult the grandparents. I feel that the provocations and insults is an attempt by Larkin to make his point come across, making it more interesting so the reader doesn’t get the impression that it is just an ordinary, long and boring poem.
I think that what Larkin is trying to say with this poem is that we keep passing on our flaws from generation to generation. That we all have faults and problems to deal with, big problems and small problems and no matter how hard we try, the problems and faults, on a larger scale, can never be fully solved because they will always be handed down to our children as a social inheritance.
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