The Gender Ethics In Philip Larkin's Poetry

This thesis takes Philip Larkin's view of women as the starting point, takes the 18th century and the 1950s and 1960s' English history as the historical background, takes cultural studies as the theoretic approach to analyze the significance and value of Larkin's poetry.Larkin was the leading figure of "The Movement". In recent decades, some distinguished critics such as Janice Rossen, Anthony Thwaite, Andrew Motion and Steve Clark and other critics have written or edited many essays or books to reveal Larkin as a "woman-hater" or "misogynist". However, Larkin's close friend, Maeve Brennan claimed that Larkin's personality was dichotomic and more complex than what the former critics declared. Stephen Cooper also argued that Larkin was a subversive writer. Jean Hartley acknowledged that Larkin was ambivalent about most things. After a careful study of Larkin's works and his real life, the author of this thesis firmly contends that Larkin is a woman - lover rather than woman-hater; he is a sensitive and subversive poet of great vision.The author of the thesis holds the view that Larkin's characteristics and poetry are very complex. He should not be simply marked as a misogynist. His vision of women is double. Even his negative view of women also bears his positive note. Larkin's double vision of women produces beautiful tension and doubleness of his insightful vision in his poetry. Larkin's view of women should be seen for the imaginative goodwill and the courage of gender ethics as it contains. At its most eloquent, the view of women moves deliberately towards those great sensations of English culture which also characterize his poetry of solitary and great vision at the sound and healthy relationship between men and women. In addition, this study analyzes the formation of his double vision of women by tracing back Larkin's personal life experiences and cultural factors. The decline of British traditional culture and external cultural wreaking havoc are the root of the formation of Larkin's view of women. His frustration on women reflects much of his anxiety about the decline of English culture. In a sense, Larkin's idea of Englishness is as deeply and intimately wounded by post-imperial withdrawals as some of the personae of his poems are wounded by the distanced, depressed, distressed and unequal relationship between men and women. What's more, the author has studied Larkin's poems carefully and claims accordingly that the essence of Larkin's gender ethics is the natural, harmonious and equal relationship between men and women.Eventually, this thesis intends to argue that Larkin's natural, harmonious and equal gender ethics is compatible with the spirit of contemporary humanism. Besides this, the thesis sets a new perspective in Larkin criticism. In a sense, it is a good study of Larkin's poetry. With impressive subtlety and skill, the author overturns the commonly held view of Larkin as a misogynist and reveals how his writing often emerges from surprising progressive views of women and gender ethics. In this sense, it offers unusual insights and thoughtful reflections on post - war British culture.