Have a look at the following website to aid your understanding and appreciation of 'Sad Steps'. It directs you to see the relationship between Larkin's poem, and its predecessor in Elizabethan poet Philip Sidney, especially concerning the imagery of the moon. You should use this to update your notes on this poem. What connections can you make?
Could everyone post a sentence about this please.
http://www.literaryconnections.co.uk/resources/larkin.html
I hope this helps, Paul.
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3 comments:
there is little difference between Larkin's 'Sad Steps' and Sir Philip Sidney's 'Astrophel and Stella: XXXI'. both talk about the moon, however Sidney's poem is more upbeat and admiring the moon, whereas larkin's poem shows the other side of the moon.
When larkin says that he 'parts thick curtains' this could emply that he wants to be alone and the moon just outside his barrier to the world. In Astrophel and Stella: XXXI the moon is praised when Sir Phillip Sidney says ' O'Moon thou climb'st the skies' so overall the two poems both talk about the moon but i think that the two poets have different interpretations of the way that it is represented. (If that makes any sense)
Sad Steps links to livings in some ways. In Livings part two the persona appreciates natures beauty and oppulence. Also the last sentence of part three of livings (chaldean stars) shows the power of nature with the ancient stars able to live forever dwarfing man's importance. This links to Sad steps because in the fourth stanza Larkin talks about the moons awesome power of the moon's "wide stare" that makes him shiver.
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