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A short class with Sarah and her students. The other ways are under More.
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What are the three jobs of a critical appreciation?
To say what the poem is about, how it is made and how well it works.
And what goes in the introduction?
The poet, the poem, the collection and date, and the subject in a sentence or two.
So for this poem?
Larkin, Dockery and Son, The Whitsun Weddings from 1964, written in 1963, about a man's visit to his old college and what it makes him think.
Then theme, form, language, tone and evaluation, and a conclusion.
Good. That is the plan.
Why does this poem sound like somebody talking?
Because Larkin used plain, everyday words, and the sentences run over the line ends like speech.
That fits a group of English writers of the 1950s. What do we call them?
The Movement. They liked plain language, clear structure and formal control.
And yet the poem is carefully built. How?
Six rhymed octaves, a turn at line 32, and a short line 45 to end.
Plain speech inside a controlled form: that is Larkin.
What is the poem's greatest strength?
The way the argument unfolds like thought. The self-correction at line 32 makes it sound honest.
And the images. The locked door comes back as the doors that warp shut.
And a limit?
It is very bleak, and line 45 is a huge generalisation. Not everyone's life is boredom followed by fear.
A fair point. And how might a defender reply?
That the speaker's own claims are treated as assumptions too, so the poem is not boasting that it knows the truth.
That is exactly how a balanced appreciation sounds.
a critical appreciation says what the poem is about, how it is made and how well it works, with evidence.
introduction, theme, structure and form, language and imagery, tone and evaluation, conclusion.
written in 1963 and collected in The Whitsun Weddings (1964), the poem shows the plain, controlled style of the Movement.
honest argument, the turn at line 32, ordinary and memorable images, and an unconsoling ending.
a narrow, bleak outlook and the sweeping statement of line 45, which a balanced answer raises fairly.
Church Going and The Whitsun Weddings also use a visit or a journey as a frame, but end differently.
An introduction sentence: "Dockery and Son", written in 1963 and collected in Philip Larkin's The Whitsun Weddings (1964), is a reflective poem in which a middle-aged man's visit to his old college leads him to question whether anyone really chooses the shape of his life.
An evaluation sentence: The poem is most effective at line 32, where the speaker's interruption of himself turns a routine comparison into an honest inquiry, and it is least convincing where the sweeping statement of line 45 leaves no room for the fulfilment some people find in family life.
A conclusion sentence: The poem leaves the reader with a cold clarity: its plain words, controlled form and quiet irony make a bleak view of life feel discovered and not merely asserted.
Say what it says, say how it plays, say how well it stays, and end with your praise.
A critic walks round the poem like a visitor round a house: the front door is the introduction, the rooms are theme, form and language, the window shows the tone, and the gate is the verdict.
I Think Some Lines Truly Earn: Introduction, Theme, Structure, Language, Tone, Evaluation.
W.H.H. - What it says, How it says it, How well it says it.
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What are the stages of a critical appreciation?
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With which group of English writers is Larkin usually linked?
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When was the poem written, and in which collection did it appear?
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Which line is the poem's strongest turning point?
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Name one limit that some readers find in the poem.
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How does the ending of The Whitsun Weddings differ from the ending of Dockery and Son?
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An organised personal response to a poem that describes, analyses and evaluates it, with evidence.
A loose grouping of English writers of the 1950s, including Larkin, known for plain language, clear structure and formal control.
Writing that uses everyday words and straightforward syntax, as if speaking, with little ornament.
The background, such as the poet, the period or the collection, that helps explain a poem.
A reasoned judgement of how well a poem achieves its effects, including strengths and limits.
A created speaker through whom a poet speaks, not simply the poet himself.
Applying to people everywhere and not only to the speaker; the last stanza makes the poem's statements universal.
Having mixed or conflicting feelings at once, such as the speaker's lack and defensiveness about being childless.
A critical appreciation says what a poem is about, how it is made and how well it works, with evidence. This lesson gives a plan for writing one on "Dockery and Son", the context of Larkin's plain style, a model answer, a comparison with other Larkin poems and a fair assessment of the poem's strengths and limits.
To appreciate "Dockery and Son" critically, you introduce the poem, state its theme, comment on its form, language and imagery, describe its tone, and then judge how well it succeeds. The poem was written in 1963 and appeared in The Whitsun Weddings (1964), and it shows the plain, controlled style of the Movement poets. Its strengths are its honest argument, the sudden turn at line 32, its ordinary and memorable images and its unconsoling ending. Its limits are a narrow, bleak outlook and a sweeping statement in line 45. Comparison with "Church Going" and "The Whitsun Weddings" shows what is typical of Larkin and what is special here.
What a critical appreciation is. A critical appreciation is an organised personal response to a poem. It does three things: it says what the poem is about, it explains how the poem is made, and it judges how well the poem works. Every claim must be backed by evidence, and since the poem is in copyright, the evidence in this course takes the form of line numbers and descriptions in your own words and not of long quotations. A critical appreciation is not a retelling of the story and not a biography of the poet.
A six-step plan.
The context of the poem. "Dockery and Son" is dated 1963 and appeared in Larkin's collection The Whitsun Weddings (1964). Larkin is usually linked with the Movement, a loose grouping of English writers of the 1950s, among them Kingsley Amis, Donald Davie and Elizabeth Jennings. They are known for a preference for plain, sensible language, clear structure and formal control, and for distrust of high-flown rhetoric. This is why the poem sounds like speech and yet is built with great care. The collection deals with ordinary English life, with marriage, ageing and death, and it includes poems such as "Mr Bleaney" (a lodger takes a rented room once occupied by another man), "Self's the Man" (a bachelor measuring himself against a married man) and "Ambulances". Larkin himself never married and had no children, which tempts readers to identify him with the speaker. It is safer to treat the speaker as a made voice: the poem's interest lies in its argument and not in biography.
A model critical appreciation (about 370 words). Philip Larkin's "Dockery and Son", written in 1963 and collected in The Whitsun Weddings (1964), begins as a small social occasion and ends as a reflection on life and death. A middle-aged man, visiting his old college, hears from the Dean that Dockery, a younger contemporary, has a son there. The news sets him thinking, on a train and on a station platform, about the difference between his own unmarried, childless life and Dockery's.
The central theme is the question of choice. The speaker first assumes that Dockery planned and was able, then corrects himself at line 32 and decides that Dockery was simply convinced, and that both men are held by assumptions that harden from habit into character. In the last stanza he concludes that life runs from boredom to fear, goes by regardless of how it is used, and leads only to old age and death. This is a bleak message, but it is argued honestly and without self-pity.
The poem is built of six rhymed octaves whose sentences run over the line and stanza breaks, so it reads like a mind thinking on a moving train. Only the last stanza ends with a full stop, and the short, blunt line 45 comes as a climax after long, winding sentences. Larkin's language is plain and conversational, with exact everyday details such as a platform and a station snack, yet it is touched with the vocabulary of business and sums, which echoes the title. The images are ordinary and strong: the locked door of lines 8 and 9, which returns as the simile of doors that warp shut in line 38, and the clouds of sand in lines 41 and 42. The tone moves from awkward courtesy and dry irony to uneasy self-questioning and finally resignation.
The poem's great strength is the way its argument unfolds like thought, with the sudden turn of line 32. Its limits are a narrow outlook and a sweeping generalisation in line 45. Yet its honesty, plain words and controlled form make its bleakness feel earned. It stays in the mind as a cold, clear statement of how little of our lives we choose.
Strengths to praise. Plain, exact language that sounds like speech; a controlled form that holds a restless thought; the self-correction at line 32, which shows a mind at work; ordinary images that carry large meanings; the echo between the locked door and the simile of the doors; the movement from a small scene to a universal claim; and the honesty of an ending that refuses consolation.
Limits and questions to raise fairly. Some readers find the outlook narrow: the poem looks at fatherhood and marriage from a solitary man's side and says little about the lives of Dockery, his son or anyone who finds fulfilment in family life. The general statement of line 45 is sweeping, and it can be read as a mood of the speaker and not as a truth about everyone. The speaker's irony may protect him from feeling what he does not want to feel. A defender of the poem can reply that it knows this, since by stanza 5 it treats the speaker's own claim of dilution as one more assumption. A balanced appreciation mentions both views.
Comparison with other Larkin poems.
Tips for writing. Use the present tense. Refer to lines by number and describe images in your own words. Evaluate as well as describe: say what works and why. Keep a balance among theme, form and language. Do not retell the story or give the poet's biography at length. End with a judgement.