Both Philip Larkin and Carol Ann Duffy explore the theme of religion in depth in their poetry.

Larkin
and Duffy both have strong personal views on religion influenced by their religious experiences
throughout childhood progressing through to adulthood. They show religions flaws from the view of
someone actively involved in the proceedings.

Both poets present figures in religion in different ways but with the same undertone of corruptness.
In Carol Ann Duffy’s “Confession” the priest is described as a “hidden man…” this could be because
the speaker is physically unable to see him mor because he is hiding the secrets and confessions told
to him during confessional. The lack of identity to the priest gives the text a sly malicious tone and
suggest that you could be confessing your deepest darkest secrets to absolutely anyone. The secrets
we hold can corrupt our souls which is why Catholics attend confession this means that the same
secrets can corrupt the priest as he cannot tell anyone what is heard. The reference to “guardian
angel…” creates an ironic tone sort of mocking the fact that he’s meant to be peoples “guardian
angel…” even though he hides his identity and his secrets I believe Duffy could be addressing how
the catholic church likes to convey the image that devout Catholics are perfect whereas fact is that
nobody is perfect. Although Duffy is no longer a catholic, she was raised one and is open about still
enjoying aspects about religion that she found solace in. In “Faith Healing” Larkins’s depiction of the
priest is the opposite giving us an image of him with “rimless glasses, silver hair,” the glasses suggest
intelligence although Philip Larkins opinion on theme is that he dislikes them intensely this is due to
his own need for glasses and believing they do not help his looks. The “silver hair,” conveys age
which can lead to wisdom from the years already lived. In faith healing the priest “dwells some
twenty seconds…” on each woman. A priest is supposed to listen to your problems, and you should
be in control of the discussion no matter how long is needed due to the priests corrupt personality
Larkin portrays him as uncaring giving each woman a short amount of time to talk before moving on
to the next. He gives each woman just enough to feel physical there for them before changing to the
next leaving an emotional fulfilment gap. The fact that a priest is supposed to give you his time and
yet he doesn’t to these women is the opposite of Carol Ann Duffy’s priest in “Confession” and is also
an example of lying-in religion creating more of a theme of corruptness in religion. Philip Larkin is
very cynical towards organised religion unlike Carol Ann Duffy who was raised on catholic beliefs and
decided to become Atheist around her teen years. The lack of punctuation in Duffy’s “Confession”
makes the poem a free verse poem giving it the feeling of free-flowing thoughts from a vague
memory of the persona giving vague imagery for the reader to follow. The priest pressures the
persona causing stress and nerves making the poem have a looser structure and lack of punctuation
because of stress.

Duffy shows the feelings towards and during confession in a negative light whereas Larkin uses
emotion to manipulate the women through the priest. In “Confession” Duffy describes the
confessional as having a “coffin…” like smell this could lean towards the fact that when you are dead
you are put in a coffin so the feeling of being in confessional is like the persona as it would be to lie
dead in a coffin. The mention of the smell helps the reader imagine themselves in that situation. This
could be a recollection inspire by Duffy’s personal experiences as her catholic upbringing would
suggest that she has more that likely been involved in a type of confessional. Compared to Larkin
who was not brought up religiously and does a good job of creating an image of church considering
he never went as a child or as an adult and is openly against organised religions. He also has a strong
knowledge of religious language baring that he isn’t religious at all. Duffy’s “catholic upbringing has
been an obvious” impact on her work she uses her experiences and memories to impact her work
and while she criticises religion calling the effect of sins on your soul “maggoty things” and the effect
the priest has on her conscience like maggots crawling in your stomach like that sick butterfly
feeling you get with nerves only maggots are a sign of rotting foods making it seem like the sins you
commit rot you inside out until you seek penance. Duffy claims in an interview that she enjoyed the
support religion gave her giving her someone to confide in and to believe in, in difficult times. In
“Faith Healing” Larkin shows the priests manipulating the women by “scarcely pausing” between
them not really caring if they are or aren’t okay, he doesn’t care for the women in an emotional
sense he doesn’t have the patience to listen to what they say and what they are going through this
adds to the idea of religion and its interest in individuals.

Duffy and Larkin have different opinions on this topic. while Duffy doesn’t actively believe in God,
she is an atheist and still enjoys the consolation religion can bring to people while Larkin who is an
agnostic man is totally against the idea of God and conveys his opinions on religion and its
uselessness and inability to help others. The “musty gloom…” in “confession “the word “musty”
gives us that damp olden smell that you smell whilst in a church this is normally accompanied by the
deep cold felt by people while entering a church and the “gloom” can describe the feeling the
persona is going through and the lighting in the confessional. Duffy uses simplistic language…” Simon
Brittan stated I believe she uses this throughout the poem while still using religious terminology she
is still able convey the message through simplistic language opening her poems up to a wider
audience. In “Faith Healing” the women “sheepishly stray” Larkin conveys the message that the
women are unimportant reducing them to followers like the sheep in the sheep and Shepard stories
throughout the bible. Sheep will often cowardly stray a small distance away. The priest doesn’t fully
support the women in an emotional way which causes them to stray, yet he supports them just
enough to manipulate them to be dependent on him. The priest in faith healing supports the women
with a false happiness stating “such joy arrives” bending them back into his mould for them as
followers.

Both Larkin and Duffy uncover lies the catholic church attempt to pass over as the truth to gain a
certain reaction on their followers. In Duffy’s “Confession” the persona believe “penance will cleanse
you like a good bar of soap” penance is the repetition of words like hail Mary and father forgive me
etc that the priest sets for example if you swear you might be set 10 hail Marys and the lord will
cleanse you of your sin but the reality of it is that if you have done something wrong saying hail Mary
doesn’t take that back no matter how many time you repeat it. this is one of the lies Duffy uncovers
about the catholic church giving it a slight sarcastic tone to show that she no longer believes that
know that wrong is wrong and once it done it cannot be undone. “confession” is made up of 3
stanzas each of 7 lines these could be used to represent the holy trinity which is the base of
Catholicism the father, the son, and the holy spirit and the 7 lines can be the 7 deadly sins especially
as confession is purely based on confessing your sins which will each fall into one of these
categories. I cannot help but wonder if Duffy’s sexuality is a reason for her straying from religion
over her teenage years as it is a sin to be gay in the catholic church. In “Faith Healing” Larkin uses the
idea that the catholic church pushes love onto people as to say the women feel “grief” because of
their lives which within they have been unloved the priest give she affect that he cares very little but
just enough the vulnerable women to bite the bait keeping them hooked and then just as they start
to crumble into the grief of not being loved the priest pulls them in with a unsympathetic “what’s
wrong!” drawing the women back in. the priest lies about his emotions and motives to keep his
followers this is how Larkin and his father both view religion. Larkins’s poem is almost the opposite
of Duffy’s her is free verse allowing thoughts to flow as if organically happening whereas Larkins is
very structured using 10-line stanzas, Iambic pentameter and a specific rhyme scheme all to emulate
the women’s dependence on the priests every word and his constant misleading’s. In “Confession”
the reference to “vinegar and sponge” is reference to Jesus on the cross when he died for our sins.
It’s a story held over Catholics heads constantly to show them what Jesus endured for them and to
attempt to guilt trip them into good behaviour and being good compliant followers because of what
he suffered Duffy rips the cloak off of this story and shows it for what it is which is a story to make
people feel bad for making minor mistakes feeding back into how she is attempting to show how
nobody is perfect. Similarly, Larkin uses the fact that “by loving others, had they been loved.”
Showing how the women measure their lives by love and how much of it they receive not by other
things like milestones. The priest teaches this so they will always be dependent on him and the
catholic church. The final line of the poem displays the idea that Larkin lived by in his life that “all
time has disapproved” that real love or enough real love doesn’t exist within humanity Larkin
thoroughly believed that love was pointless he never married or fully committed to any one woman
at a time.

In conclusion both Larkin and Duffy present religion and beliefs in a negative and standoffish light
neither is actively involved in any religion at this point in time which may indicate why they take that
approach. They present this idea through the personas of both poems the strong imagery and senses
created by Duffy and Larkins external opinion and tone throughout “Faith healing”.