Reaction to Self's the Man

I felt that Self's the Man was quite easy to understand and to pick up the message of the poem. The persona throughout seems to be joking and is quite hyperbolic, so it leaves you questioning how much you can actually believe. The fact that there is consistently rhyming couplets throughout the poem not only makes it sound like a limeric, but also like the persona is mocking Arnold and the life he has chosen. Whilst it is apparent that the persona has actively chosen not to marry because he wants peace, and feels that marriage will be the death of you, the persona recognizes that this is the life Arnold has chosen, and that even though the persona has pointed out all the stress Arnold goes through, Arnold is not to be pitied. I understood the line 'without them sending a van' to be like death, and that through the stress that marriage and children brings, it would send Arnold to an early grave.
I think there is an underlying message in this poem that Larkin has made about life choices, and how they cannot be changed once you've made them and I think for this reason the poem links well with Larkin's other poem, Dockery & Son.