{"id":40,"date":"2024-09-24T17:41:07","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T17:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitalmethodsforthehumanities2024\/?page_id=40"},"modified":"2024-09-24T17:42:18","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T17:42:18","slug":"aubade","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitalmethodsforthehumanities2024\/annotated-poems\/aubade\/","title":{"rendered":"Aubade"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Philip Larkin<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I work all day, and get half-drunk at night.<\/div>\n
Waking at four to soundless dark, I stare.<\/div>\n
In time the curtain-edges will grow light.<\/div>\n
Till then I see what\u2019s really always there:<\/div>\n
Unresting death, a whole day nearer now,<\/div>\n
Making all thought impossible but how<\/div>\n
And where and when I shall myself die.<\/div>\n
Arid interrogation: yet the dread<\/div>\n
Of dying, and being dead,<\/div>\n
Flashes afresh to hold and horrify.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The mind blanks at the glare. Not in remorse<\/div>\n
\u2014The good not done, the love not given, time<\/div>\n
Torn off unused\u2014nor wretchedly because<\/div>\n
An only life can take so long to climb<\/div>\n
Clear of its wrong beginnings, and may never;<\/div>\n
But at the total emptiness for ever,<\/div>\n
The sure extinction that we travel to<\/div>\n
And shall be lost in always. Not to be here,<\/div>\n
Not to be anywhere,<\/div>\n
And soon; nothing more terrible, nothing more true.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
This is a special way of being afraid<\/div>\n
No trick dispels. Religion used to try,<\/div>\n
That vast moth-eaten musical brocade<\/div>\n
Created to pretend we never die,<\/div>\n
And specious stuff that says\u00a0No rational being<\/em><\/div>\n
Can fear a thing it will not feel,<\/em>\u00a0not seeing<\/div>\n
That this is what we fear\u2014no sight, no sound,<\/div>\n
No touch or taste or smell, nothing to think with,<\/div>\n
Nothing to love or link with,<\/div>\n
The anaesthetic from which none come round.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And so it stays just on the edge of vision,<\/div>\n
A small unfocused blur, a standing chill<\/div>\n
That slows each impulse down to indecision.<\/div>\n
Most things may never happen: this one will,<\/div>\n
And realisation of it rages out<\/div>\n
In furnace-fear when we are caught without<\/div>\n
People or drink. Courage is no good:<\/div>\n
It means not scaring others. Being brave<\/div>\n
Lets no one off the grave.<\/div>\n
Death is no different whined at than withstood.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Slowly light strengthens, and the room takes shape.<\/div>\n
It stands plain as a wardrobe, what we know,<\/div>\n
Have always known, know that we can\u2019t escape,<\/div>\n
Yet can\u2019t accept. One side will have to go.<\/div>\n
Meanwhile telephones crouch, getting ready to ring<\/div>\n
In locked-up offices, and all the uncaring<\/div>\n
Intricate rented world begins to rouse.<\/div>\n
The sky is white as clay, with no sun.<\/div>\n
Work has to be done.<\/div>\n
Postmen like doctors go from house to house.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Copyright Credit: Philip Larkin, “Aubade” from\u00a0Collected Poems<\/em>. Copyright \u00a9 Estate of Philip Larkin.\u00a0 Reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber, Ltd.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Philip Larkin I work all day, and get half-drunk at night. Waking at four to soundless dark, I stare. In time the curtain-edges will grow light. Till then I see what\u2019s really always there: Unresting death, a whole day nearer now, Making all thought impossible but how And where and when I shall myself … Continue reading Aubade<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5512,"featured_media":0,"parent":14,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-40","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitalmethodsforthehumanities2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/40","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitalmethodsforthehumanities2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitalmethodsforthehumanities2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitalmethodsforthehumanities2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5512"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitalmethodsforthehumanities2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitalmethodsforthehumanities2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/40\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitalmethodsforthehumanities2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/digitalmethodsforthehumanities2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}