{"id":5997,"date":"2014-04-27T08:39:31","date_gmt":"2014-04-27T08:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=5997"},"modified":"2014-04-27T08:39:31","modified_gmt":"2014-04-27T08:39:31","slug":"earth-day-celebration-a-line-or-two-from-philip-larkin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2014\/04\/27\/earth-day-celebration-a-line-or-two-from-philip-larkin\/","title":{"rendered":"Earth Day Celebration \u2013 a line or two from Philip Larkin"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1971, Philip Larkin was commissioned to write a prologue\u00a0to a UK government report,\u00a0How Do You Want To Live<\/em>? \u00a0This was one of the UK's papers submitted to the iconic 1972 UN Stockholm conference. \u00a0 Larkin was always going to be a risky choice for such a venture, and it's a matter of record that\u00a0the great and good in government did not wholly like what he wrote \u2013 too near the truth, some thought, to be published in full. \u00a0Indeed, the commissioning committee\u00a0was so discomforted that they cut bits out of the poem, something which Larkin went along with.<\/p>\n

Here it is, in its great and gloomy \u2013 but not yet quite prescient \u2013 original version. \u00a0Larkin published this in his\u00a0collection\u00a0High Windows<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Going, going<\/strong><\/p>\n

I thought it would last my time \u2013<\/p>\n

The sense that, beyond the town,<\/p>\n

There would always be fields and farms,<\/p>\n

Where the village louts could climb<\/p>\n

Such trees as were not cut down;<\/p>\n

I knew there\u2019d be false alarms<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the papers about old streets<\/p>\n

And split level shopping, but some<\/p>\n

Have always been left so far;<\/p>\n

And when the old part retreats<\/p>\n

As the bleak high-risers come<\/p>\n

We can always escape in the car.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Things are tougher than we are, just<\/p>\n

As earth will always respond<\/p>\n

However we mess it about;<\/p>\n

Chuck filth in the sea, if you must:<\/p>\n

The tides will be clean beyond.<\/p>\n

\u2013 But what do I feel now? Doubt?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Or age, simply? The crowd<\/p>\n

Is young in the M1 cafe;<\/p>\n

Their kids are screaming for more \u2013<\/p>\n

More houses, more parking allowed,<\/p>\n

More caravan sites, more pay.<\/p>\n

On the Business Page, a score<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Of spectacled grins approve<\/p>\n

Some takeover bid that entails<\/p>\n

Five per cent profit (and ten<\/p>\n

Per cent more in the estuaries): move<\/p>\n

Your works to the unspoilt dales<\/p>\n

(Grey area grants)! And when<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You try to get near the sea<\/p>\n

In summer ...<\/p>\n

It seems, just now,<\/p>\n

To be happening so very fast;<\/p>\n

Despite all the land left free<\/p>\n

For the first time I feel somehow<\/p>\n

That it isn\u2019t going to last,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That before I snuff it, the whole<\/p>\n

Boiling will be bricked in<\/p>\n

Except for the tourist parts \u2013<\/p>\n

First slum of Europe: a role<\/p>\n

It won\u2019t be hard to win,<\/p>\n

With a cast of crooks and tarts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And that will be England gone,<\/p>\n

The shadows, the meadows, the lanes,<\/p>\n

The guildhalls, the carved choirs.<\/p>\n

There\u2019ll be books; it will linger on<\/p>\n

In galleries; but all that remains<\/p>\n

For us will be concrete and tyres.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most things are never meant.<\/p>\n

This won\u2019t be, most likely; but greeds<\/p>\n

And garbage are too thick-strewn<\/p>\n

To be swept up now, or invent<\/p>\n

Excuses that make them all needs.<\/p>\n

I just think it will happen, soon.<\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Clever stuff, where every comma is made to count. \u00a0 Required reading, I'd have thought, in\u00a0all ESD 101 courses. \u00a0I was reminded of all this by Ian Hislop's recent\u00a0BBC2 series on the \"olden days<\/a>\" \u2013 his thesis being that we English are not just obsessed with looking to the past, but actually see it as some sort of\u00a0guide for the future. \u00a0All very witty and rather sly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1971, Philip Larkin was commissioned to write a prologue\u00a0to a UK government report,\u00a0How Do You Want To Live? \u00a0This was one of the UK's papers submitted to the iconic 1972 UN Stockholm conference. \u00a0 Larkin was always going to...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-news-and-updates"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5997\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}