Lines And Church Going Flashcards
(32 cards)
At last you __________ up the album’ (Lines)
yielded
Too much ____________, too rich’ (Lines)
confectionary
What kind of semantic field is used in the opening stanza of Lines on a Young Lady’s Photograph Album?
semantic field of food (the woman is presented as a commodity to be consumed)
What are some of the quotations that link to the semantic field of food in Lines on a Young Lady’s Photograph Album?
too much confectionary’ ‘I choke on such nutritious images’ ‘My swivel eye hungers’
I ___________ on such nutritious images’ (Lines)
Choke
How is ‘art’ described in Lines on a Young Lady’s Photograph Album?
faithful and disappointing
In Lines on a Young Lady’s Photograph Album, why does the speaker see photography as ‘disappointing’? ‘ ___________ and ______________’
It is too ‘faithful’ - it does not leave room for imagination
So I am left to _________’ (Lines)
mourn
Why does Larkin feel saddened when he considers the girl’s past in Lines on a Young Lady’s Photograph Album?
It is something that he is excluded from - it is ‘a past that no one can now share’.
It holds you like a __________’ (Lines)
Heaven
What technique is used in the following: ‘‘it holds you like a heaven’’ (Lines)
Simile
In Lines on a Young Lady’s Photograph Album, what it is that the speaker says ‘holds you [the girl] like a heaven’?
the past
Which quotation in Lines on a Young Lady’s Photograph Album suggests that the past preserves the woman in an eternal state of wonder and purity.
‘it holds you like a heaven’
‘Once I am sure there’s nothing _________ / __________’ (Church Going)
going on
What is the significance of the opening line from Church Going? ‘Once I am sure there’s nothing going on’
The phrase ‘nothing going on’ perhaps suggests the speaker views the church with suspicion - almost as a place of strange, cultish practices.
sprawlings of flowers, cut // For Sunday, ___________ now; (Church Going)
brownish
In Church Going, what is the significance of the ‘brownish’ flowers and the ‘musty’ silence?
Both ideas have connotations of something stale and past its best. This is perhaps what Larkin is suggesting about the church and the role of religion.
‘some brass and _________’ (Church Going)
stuff
What is the significance of Larkin referring to the sacred items in the church as ‘some brass and stuff’?
It suggests that the speaker sees the church, and the objects in it, as insignificant and dull.
What technique is used in the title of Church
A pun
How does Larkin employ a pun in the title of Church Going?
‘Church Going’ could literally refer to the practice of ‘going’ to (attending) church. However, it could also be describing how the relevance of the church is ‘going’ from society.
In Church Going, what worthless currency does the speaker donate to the church?
‘An Irish sixpence’
In Church Going, why does the speaker donate ‘an Irish sixpence’?
This currency is worthless, so this gesture is used by Larkin to convey how, initially at least, the protagonist sees the church as having no value.
Where does Larkin employ a volta in Church Going?
At the beginning of the third stanza. After previously commenting that the church was ‘not worth stopping for’, the speaker then admits ‘Yet stop I did: in fact I often do’
