My first reaction to Larkin

My first reaction to the poems I read by Philip Larkin was that they all had a negative approach to the subject he was addressing. In Mr Bleaney, it sounded like death whereas in Toads Revisited, it sounded like the man in the poem did not appreciate things in life and doesn't have any friends as all he likes to do is work. The Witsun Weddings poem to me felt like a deterrence to marriage and I thought that the underlying message was that when you get married you don't live anymore. Take one home for the kiddies sounded to me a bit like living in poverty - 'huddled by empty bowls' made me think of vulnerability and being poor.