WARWL Complete Text Those long uneven lines Standing as patiently As if they were stretched outside The Oval or Villa Park, The crowns of hats, the sun On moustached archaic faces Grinning as if it were all An August Bank Holiday lark; And the shut shops, the bleached Established names on the sunblinds, The farthings and sovereigns, And dark-clothed children at play Called after kings and queens, The tin advertisements For cocoa and twist, and the pubs Wide open all day; And the countryside not caring: The place-names all hazed over With flowering grasses, and fields Shadowing Domesday lines Under wheat’s restless silence; The differently-dressed servants With tiny rooms in huge houses, The dust behind limousines; Never such innocence, Never before or since, As changed itself to past Without a word — the men Leaving the gardens tidy, The thousands of marriages Lasting a little while longer: Never such innocence again. -_- ae 14 24 3 4 5 6 7 8[133 4. MCMXIV (1914) WANK Complete Paraphrase | Those long unequal lines stood unm grea as if they surrounded the Oval or tats were visible and the old faces atching the sunlight. The smile on the ofan August Bank Holiday. oved encircling a vast Villa park. The tops of with moustaches were faces expressed the joy And the closed shops had sun-blinds carrying names of the shops in faded colour. The business carried on there at these shops was with coins like farthings and sovereigns. The children playing there were dressed in black clothes. They were named after kings and queens. There were tin sign- boards on display carrying adds of chocolate and tobacco and there were wine shops that remained open all day. And the rural scene is quite different from the ae active life: the sign-posts with place-names were = a i wild weedy and rank growth and the demarcation Or en fields were over-shadowed by silently sway!ng | ree tferenl servants of countryside huge mansions oe, sapere there Clothes were posted at small rooms for their 1 Wete parked luxury cars at dusty places. There was a matchless simplicity tesands of mer | “Noticed and without resistance in W fe Jong: one cannot a Ik left their families which would not ine opting for this kind of simplicit¥" woe net ULPHILIP LaRkay Section t . Critical Appreciation The World War I broke out Britain, France and Russia~ October, Turkey threw in its lot wi and Austria. Allied victory was ie PWT ~ Gary , declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. Ge, the United State November 11, 1918 : | brine Sutender b 1 and the war ended bringing fatal his economies of the war-torn nations, Britain, in this res, - exception and it had to suffer wide-spread unemployment ae and depression. Imperialist expansionist designs of cegenes, rer with fascist and militarist regimes were the root-cause ofa de = win world domination. The countries in the forefront were mee France, USA, Japan, Germany and Italy divided into two want camps in the two World Wars that brought about not only = holocaust in its wake but also did great damage to social, politic and economic structures in practice all over the world. ows ty The four stanzas of the poem, ‘MCMXIV’ paint a sad picture of towns and villages after World War I. The symbolic and metaphorical description of urban and rural societies gives out gloom and despair. The first two stanzas depict town life, with thin population ‘moustached archaic faces’ and dark-clothed children at play’. The reader in these stanzas does not meet with the sights of real joy- The market-place has not the usual hustle and bustle and shops do a give an elegant look. We do not come across youth yee aes ¢ whole course of the poem, as they have been sacrificed at the bloo*} altar of war. The children in black clothes tell the same story- ; and quiet county In stanzas 3 and 4, the poet refers to calm ants adopted by the wealthy folk with huge houses, trains or hei expansive cars. We have land demarcations made un sof men fr of survey of 1086. The last stanza points out the ae ea tite of these countryside dwelling places, and laments the bereaved families. aman iife ad The poem is a grim story of damage a ail crete property by the World War I. The poet has successfull) "eet gloom that prevails and the isolation and alienation eye.| vide open all day’, ‘the place-names all hazed over with, sea Poems 04—MCMxi¥ (1914) gelec' The poem MCMXIV’ has four Stanzas, Bach “ og, The lines do not follow a regular metre, ae pes ine scheme. There is melodious flow in lines achi a a " i onthe help of monosyllabic words and alliteration, se teialy The images of ‘lines’ stretched outside th gowns of hats’, ‘moustached archaic faces’, ‘shut fl es on the sunblinds’, ‘the farthings and so stent hea bli " vereigns’, “d opildren at play’, ‘tin advertisements for cocoa and ie, the ea : s e Oval or Villa Park’, a : ier fle i es’, ‘fields shadowing Doom’s day lines’, ‘what's reine Silence’, ‘the differently dressed servants’, ‘tiny rooms in huge houses’, ‘the dust behind limausines’ and ‘the gardens tidy’ = simple and vivid enough to hide nothing from the curious eye of the reader. Language used in the poem is not different but references call for help to reach the message given in the poem. WARE Important Explanations with Reference to the Context Lines 1-8 Those long uneven lines Standing as patiently As if they were stretched outside The Oval or Villa Park, The crowns of hats, the sun On moustached archaic faces Grinning as if it were all An August Bank Holiday lark; eriuaukone Reference These lines have been taken from the poem “MCMXIV’ written by Philip Arthur Larkin. Context Fy si f the The ” i ecord of some impressions ©! e poem ‘MCMXIV’ is a villages. The World War I Poet regarding post-war English towns anPHILIP LARKIN 136| Seton | (1914-1918) brought social, political, economic and mora, to the people of the war-torn world. In hunger, disease, mass migration of populations in search of shelter. The fo, of the poem paint a gloomy picture of deserted towns villages to which some people with means had migrated. Explanation These lines are about the town life. Some places in the town have enclaves marked by lines. They symbolise alienation and isolation within a town life. The poet gives a picture of old man with moustaches and hats. Their faces express joy of a holiday mood, This stanza focuses mostly on isolation and old men left in the wake of World War I. Lines 9-16 And the shut shops, the bleached Problems death, ang UF Stanzag and quiet Established names on the sunblinds, 10 The farthings and sovereigns, nl And dark-clothed children at play n Called after kings and queens, B The tin advertisements M4 For cocoa and twist, and the pubs 5 Wide open all day; 16 Reference These lines have been taken from the poem ‘MCMXIV’ i by Philip Arthur Larkin. Context The poem ‘MCMXIV’ is a record of some impressions oi Poet regarding post-war English towns and villages. The World west) brought social, political, economic and mo! fo the people of the war-torn world. In hunger, disease mass migration of populations in search of shelter. The fond a ‘fan Poem paint a gloomy picture of deserted town? _ villages to which some people with means had migrated.f act Poems 04—MCMxIy (1914) planation \137 In these lines the poet draws a pichite of where the shops are not open. The names of the shor : gonlinds have faded. T he coins used there for bu: fanthings and sovereigns. Around the place, ack-clothes are es Black clothes symbol| ublicity sign boards on display to adverti . The ed (chocolate) and twist (tobe role fal treed) Tete ke shops that remain open to people all day. The last two lines a the consumer goods popular in post-war days. hopping Place z PS painted on the ying and selling are children dressed in Ise Mourning. There Lines 17-24 And the countryside not caring: 7 The place-names all hazed over 18 With flowering grasses, and fields 19 Shadowing Domesday lines 20 Under wheat’s restless silence; 21 The differently-dressed servants 2 With tiny rooms in huge houses, B The dust behind limousines; 24 Reference These lines have been taken from the poem ’MCMXIV’ written by Philip Arthur Larkin. Context The poem ‘MCMXIV’ is a record of some EW et Poet regarding post-war English towns and villages. nel Cas (1914-1918) brought social, political, economic a eee to the people of the war-torn world. In hunger, ¢ se ete mass migration of populations in search of ste Dene of the poem paint a gloomy picture of ase = a villages to which some people with means ha ahaa f post-war days. life of + in 7 tn these lines the poet tums tne ind ‘varnath of the town life, country life did not have activity are names of Places were Whatsoever. The sign-posts indicating4138] hidden under Tank groy had become Neglected places. The swarn ny - The Villages hid the lines that mark visions oe thea! Plants eee in the fietg, ked the divisions of land, ’ “ Possession. There were servants in different uniforms pee ‘oy oral Tooms of huge houses where the rich from towns had ae ive. Their expensive (sedan) automobil " iis es parked there on Susy Lines 2532 Never such innocence, 3 Never before or since, % As changed itself to Past a Without a word - the men 3 Leaving the gardens tidy, p) The thousands of marriages x Lasting a little while longer: 31 Never such innocence again. 2 Reference ‘These lines have been taken from the poem ‘MCMXIV" written by Philip Arthur Larkin. Context The poem ‘MCMXIV’ is a record of some impressions of the Poet regarding post-war English towns and villages. The World War! (1914—1918) brought social, Political, economic and moral problems to the people of the war-torn world. In hunger, disease, death and mass migration of populations in search of shelter, The four stanzas of the poem paint a gloomy picture of deserted towns and quiet villages to which some people with means had migrated. Explanation / Jn these lines, the poct points tothe change that came pas the countryside of England as aftermath of the World ee . Post-war period, there was a mad race among people al nt places of shelter and sustenance. The people were in a fix to make know how to save themselves from evils of war. They had com hasty decisions. In that race the rich hurried to escape fromSelected Poems 04—MCMxIy (1914) [lution into rural calm and simple livi 1139 decisions as they had no choice. Ae ae va to make such a great number and in this way most of the eee in to them. This mass migration sounded like an vpheged nt strata. This change was matchless in the history of mankind. The people accepted it without opposition or resistance. Leaving their neat dwelling they agreed readily to move to countryside which was not clean where dust settled on everything. Thousands of families that had lost their male members to war had to live this short life for which now they had voted. One cannot imagine this kind of choice of simple life. WEVA IA RL