Wold Oats Flashcards
(4 cards)
Wild oats summary.
Written 12th May 1962, and the title comes from a common euphemism for sex- “show your wild oats” which was an encouragement for men to sleep around before marriage while women had to remain chaste.
It relates to two women in Larkin’s past, the ‘English rose’ being Jane Exall, and her friend being a woman Larkin was engaged to for seven years- Ruth Bowman. Their engagement was broken off presumably by men.
But it was the friend I took out
The use of the fronted conjunction reveals his dismissal of the woman he took out when he compares her to her friend.
This is contextually significant because this dismissal when compared with her friend is one of the speculated reasons their relationship ended
The whole shooting-match off, and I doubt
Metaphor for the conflict about to come
Ten Guinea ring
Illusion to betting on horse races
A pun to how he bet on the wrong horse
