Philip Larkin “Church Going”

                Larkin must be somewhat of a comic writer, because the title of this poem is a pun in itself. We think it will be about going to church (or at least I did), however it is really about the church “going” away. Distracted by my reverence for this poem as a sci-fi poem set in the future, because I don’t believe the church will ever go away. That being said, the poem gives light into how many atheist people must feel about the church, as merely a place for marriage, baptism, and funerals. “Only in separation—marriage, and birth, / And death and thoughts of these—for which was built” (lines 50-52). It seems surprising that this poem was written in 1954 when I thought that religious conservatism was at a stable point. If that is the case, then this is a very revolutionary or avante garde kind of work.