Jun 4, 2020
Allegro, appreciation, Aubade, bad news, connection, doctors, Don Paterson, everyday, godparent, good news, gratitude, help, hope, joy, Larkin, mindful, mindfulness, Paterson, Philip Larkin, postmen, Waking with Russell
by Lucy Crispin
Larkin’s magnificent, monumental poem ‘Aubade‘ speaks with a terrible, alchemical beauty about death and the fear of death. It closes with the line ‘Postmen like doctors go from house to house’ which, in context, says something very Larkin-y and shiversome about death’s inevitability; we’ll all get those visits from doctors, sooner or later. Would Larkin be horrified, though, if he knew how that line popped into my head with a totally different feel to it, about half an hour ago, when the postman delivered two unexpected letters and, with them, great joy?
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