Jake Thackray and Philip Larkin

[nathanrichardson]

Hello everybody,
I’ve written an essay in which I compare Thackray’s Lah-Di-Dah to Philip Larkin’s The Whitsun Weddings. Perhaps, I thought, some of you may be interested in reading it. I appreciate any feedback!

http://nathanrichardson.wordpress.com/2013/10/19/the-winsome-weddings-comparing-philip-larkin-and-jake-thackray/

Many thanks,
Nathan R.

[Dave Knibb]

A very interesting read. Although it is a very long time since I read any Larkin, I agree with your views on Jake’s cynicism actually being “diluted” at the end of the song; not a thing he would have done in earlier works.

[richardtobrien]

Nathan, this is great! I’ve retweeted it, for what good it’ll do… Larkin talks about marriage as ‘dilution’ somewhere, I think, but I guess ‘Lah-di-Dah’ is almost the opposite – the ceremony is the dilution, and the marriage itself the distillation of the real thing. ‘To Do With You’ feeds into this as well.

[Author]

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