Comparison of two poems - Essay Example

The elders fantasize about the joys of youth. The youth, unknowing of their happiness undertake ventures which may lead to dangers that they do not know of. This paper will attempt to find the similarities and the differences between the two poems. The themes of the poems are almost similar. Old age, the weariness associated with it, and the sheer helplessness of the time going by. The main theme of “The Guardians” is the helplessness of human condition. But the major theme of “High Windows” is sex.

Minor themes are religion and the factor of age. The poet is moved enough to write by the sight of a couple having sex. The poem’s theme is continued throughout. The association of safe sex with religion, the reference to the priest and the idea of paradise are the subtexts through which the poet tells us his ideas of life. Nature is one of the major themes of “The Guardians”, and though the poet offsets its beauty with the tragic climax, the description of nature in itself gives it a place in great poems on nature.

The images used- “a fragile reflected sun”, “thunderheads drift, awkwardly” impart life to the nature, and makes it a participant in the narrative. The main characters in the poem are the old. The young are seen only to go out and come back dead, whereas the old people do things in the poem. Similarly, in “High Windows”, the main character is the poet. The young kids, only the catalysts in making the poet think about sex, and religion and the human condition. One of Mr Larkin’s favourite recreations was to observe from this office, through ever-warm binoculars, the female students as they walked beneath him.

He called the attractive ones his ‘honeys’. (Dexter, Gary). Both the poems are written from the perspective of the elder generation. In “High Windows”, Philip Larkin uses first person singular form of address. The speaker, probably the poet