Philip Larkin has once again created two magnificent poem and they are both three verses, as are many of his other pieces, such as: ‘The Trees’ and ‘Cut Grass’ ‘ Broadcast’ and ‘Wild firm and stable relationship with any women. The main theme of both these two poems is love but neither of the titles indicates anything about affection or passion. ‘Broadcast’ is more virtual reality than reality because Larkin is imagining a beautiful woman standing amongst a crowd in a concert, from the music, which is vibrantly coming out of his radio. This shows that the poem is written over a short time period: about three to four minutes, which is the average length of a piece of classical music. Whereas, ‘Wild Oats’ was over a long period of time: about seven to eight years, involving two girls and how Larkin was not able to keep a close and solid relationship with neither of them
Both these poems were written in the late nineteen sixties, early nineteen seventies due to the evidence, which is shown in both of them. In ‘Broadcast’ it shows that before the concert: the national anthem of England was played. This was only done in that time period. Also in ‘Wild Oats’ it is written that they were still using Guineas as their currency, which proves that ‘Wild Oats’ was also written in that time period. Oats’ are extremely enjoyable to read. In both these poems Larkin has placed himself as a man, who is not able to build a
‘Broadcast’ The first line in the first verse shows that there is a concert because one normally relates ‘whispering and coughing’ to a crowd standing in the audience of a concert. The whispering and coughing is very loud probably too loud, which destroys the artists concentration. “Giant whispering and coughing.” The next line shows that the stage of the concert hall is higher than the audience because the poem states that the organ was looking down onto the audience. This means that this concert was probably staged at The Royal Albert Hall because in the late nineteen sixties, early nineteen seventies The Royal Albert Hall was the only large hall, which had a stage looking over the audience.
“…And organ frowned-on spaces.” The third line says that there was a ‘scuttle on the drums’. This was a sign for everyone to stand up for the national anthem. The start of the next line shows the last two words of the anthem and then everyone takes their places for the commencement of the concert. ” ‘The Queen’, and huge resettling.” In the next line there is a ‘snivel on the violins’ this marked the overture to the performance and the silence in the crowd. In the last line of the first verse Larkin imagines a beautiful woman standing amongst the crowd, in the concert, from the powerful music, which was coming out of the radio.
“I think of your face among all those faces.” In the first line of the second verse Larkin has written that the lady is attractive and also has a strong faith. “Beautiful and devout.” Larkin tend to use the word ‘devout’ in majority of his poems. For example he use this word in ‘The Water’: “A furious devout drench.” The next line persists on to talk about the music. It describes how there is a rise and fall in the tone of the violins, like a crescendo, by using the word ‘cascades’. Then it goes on to describe the plunge through the chords of the violins by relating to it as ‘monumental slithering’. In the next lines his eye catches her shoes as her glove falls to the ground: they were old fashioned.
“One of your gloves unnoticed on the floor Beside those new, slightly- outmoded shoes.” He is still listening to the radio, and then suddenly loses his focus on the concert. “Here it goes quickly dark.” In the first line of the third verse Larkin has once again brought the topic of nature into another of his poems. He has written about trees and how most of the leaves have started to fall off. This gives the reader a clue of the specific season that this poem was set: in the middle of autumn because it is around this period when leaves start to fall off trees.
“Leaves on half emptied trees.” Philip Larkin enjoyed writing about nature and he brought it into ‘Broadcast’ and many other of his poems, such as ‘The Trees’. This poem was about the life cycle of the leaves, which grow in the spring and fall off in the autumn. The next line talks about the ‘glowing’ light on the radio. Then the topic suddenly changes and goes back to the concert. The music becomes frantic and the volume increases, which usually indicates the climax of the performance. The poem finished off with ‘their cut-off shout’, which means that he suddenly realised the concert had finished with the orchestra ending on a strong role.
‘Wild Oats’ The two titles: ‘Broadcast’ and ‘Wild Oats’ have an interesting similarity. If you sow wild oats, it means that you are making trouble for yourself in a sexual manner and another word for sowing is broadcast. Larkin cleverly disguised this relationship between these two poems. In the first three lines of the first verse Larkin is talking about two girls, which he met about twenty years before he wrote this poem. One of the girls was very attractive because he related to her as a ‘rose’, which is a sign of beauty. This attractive girl had a voluptuous figure in the eyes of Larkin.
“A bosomy English rose.” This line can be related back to lines three and four of ‘Broadcast’, where the national anthem of England was played before the performance because the national anthem and the red rose are both symbols of England. Larkin had more in common with the less attractive girl, who wore glasses because he found it easier to talk to her.
