A study of reading habits Essay

The proposition of journeys is present in Philip sportins poem, A Study of Reading Habits. However, it is not a physical journey that we square up, more(prenominal)over a metaphorical journey about the speakers life progression through and through his changing escapisms created by books. The title is a mock, serious title for it wakeless(prenominal)s ilk a piece of academic research Larkin spends rootage person portion to give facial expression to things he would prefer not to bring attri exclusivelyed to himself. The structure of the poem divided into triple stanzas school years, callow years and the present.The nicety is sarcastic and colloquial, that along with the shorter crinkles, creates a less(prenominal) serious poem from Larkin. In the starting line part of his journey, the persona is imaginative and loves to read, so much(prenominal) so that is it ruining his look. He imagines a fantasy existence where he could be cool and occupy out the right hook to his bullies. The get-go rhyme of dirty dogs is symbolism of the personas bullies, which portrays them as the villains. It is the stories, which makes him believe he is invincible, resembling that of the heroes he reads about.The stories provide an escapism to which he discharge be brave, hero, and not the bullied baby to which he is in reality. There is a smooth, harmonious quality in the beginning stanza due to Euphony. This underscored how easygoing and fantasy-like childhood can be. The second part of his journey represents his adolescent years. We now control him with inch deep-chested specs, which is ironic to him previously stating his favor for reading was ruining his eyes. We call in the persona become more knightly and dark, with his new love of Horror Fiction.Cloaks and fangs sounds perilous and eerie, which is his new escapism. Some critics arouse that pull could be vampire vocabulary but it also can refer to cosmos posh. Through his journey through stanza two, we see him move on to more undimmed novels, where his escapism is him being a womanizer. Larkin use borrowed language of clubbed with sex and broke them up like meringues to create the poets droll world. The similie refers to his lust for sexual encounters with women.The phrases are sooner cheesy and some suggest it is defective writing on Larkins behalf, but some argue it is Larkin move to sound like a bad guy. Larkin is trying too hard to sound like Raymond Chandlers character, Marlowe, but it just doesnt work. In the final part of the personas journey, which leads him up to the present tense, we see a completely conflicting purview of reading. In the final stanza the speaker comes to legal injury with reality he can no longer hide behind books.He realizes that his world is less fulfilling than the fantasies portrayed in books, and says dont read much now. He feels betrayed by books and his shadow becomes bitter. The yellow figure evokes the sense of failing and repre sents cowardly characteristics. This metaphor produces the effect of a cowardly character, which evidently relates to the persona. This content he can no longer fantasice for the characters he looked up to are weak. With no more escapism, the persona no longer wants to read.In the penultimate line of the poem Lark says Get stewed, which is said in a light hearted jokey way. Some suggest it refers to getting drunk, which may be his choice escapism, but some argue it means get lost, referring to the disappointment. On the contrary, the final line represents the personas new feelings towards books. He believes they are a worthless payload of crap. The theme of the poem is that escapism and ignoring reality only makes life less fulfilling, which is illustrated through the theme of a journey.