Sad Steps : Philip Larkin : : Moon Poems : :

Sad Steps : : BY PHILIP LARKIN ( )
Groping back to bed after a piss
I part thick curtains, and am startled by
The rapid clouds, the moon’s cleanliness.

Four o’clock: wedge-shadowed gardens lie
Under a cavernous, a wind-picked sky.
There’s something laughable about this,

The way the moon dashes through clouds that blow
Loosely as cannon-smoke to stand apart
(Stone-coloured light sharpening the roofs below)

High and preposterous and separate—
Lozenge of love! Medallion of art!
O wolves of memory ! Immensements ! No,

One shivers slightly, looking up there.
The hardness and the brightness and the plain
Far-reaching singleness of that wide stare

Is a reminder of the strength and pain
Of being young; that it can’t come again,
But is for others undiminished somewhere.
— Philip Larkin, “Sad Steps” from Collected Poems : Estate of Philip Larkin : ( Reprint ) Faber and Faber, Ltd.
Source: Collected Poems ( Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2001 ) : From poetryfoundation.org : For Educational Purposes only.

“Sad Steps”Written in April 1968 published in his final volume of poetry, High Windows (1974) , A “Moon Poem” By Philip Larkin ( 1922 , Coventry, England – 1985 , ) is About Viewing Moon, reminding him in his mid 40s / reminding a Reader with similar awareness of loss of “strength” and “of pain” of being young, as well as , lack of intense emotionality with “far reaching singleness” of The Moon’s “hardness and brightness“at which The Poet 🥶 shivers. ❄️❄️ Thus her “wide stare” shakes him to think that he is getting old with loss of Youth, and is getting his passions cooled off. : : : : : : Larkin being awe-struck by the moon in the night sky, something that poets have been drawn to as a poetic topic for centuries. Yet , Here, he reflects very differently. : : The title of Larkin’s poem can be allusively referred to another English poem by Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86), A sonnet 31 from Sidney’s sixteenth-century sequence, Astrophil and Stella. : : with the opening line, ‘With how sad steps, O moon, thou climb’st the skies’: : For Larkin, Sydney’s ‘sad steps’ seem to be more earthy and realistic ; practicle and sensible feel up , that is , the steps he takes “back to bed ‘after a piss” , Opening line of The Poem. : :

Stanza 1 : : “Groping back to bed after a piss 1
I part thick curtains, and am startled by 2
The rapid clouds, the moon’s cleanliness.” 3 : lines 1 To 3 : : : :

About The Poet Speaker who is “Groping ” / ‘fumbling’ / walking blindly / with shut eyes in darkness of the ( bathroom , walkway and ) the bedroom back “to bed after a piss”, shifts the sections of thick curtains aside in opposite ends as he says, “parts thick curtains”( line 2 ) and moves suddenly from the sky view now revealed before him , as if “startled “/ in surprise 🫢 by “The rapid clouds , the moon’s cleanliness.” ( line 3 ) / Meaning, he is taken aback or gets stirred up emotionally , seeing the clouds moving with high speed and The moon’s ” cleanliness ” , that is , An impressive appearance in ‘neatness’ / free from clumsiness. : : : :

Stanza 2 : : ” Four o’clock : wedge-shadowed gardens lie 4
Under a cavernous, a wind-picked sky. 5
There’s something laughable about this,“6 : ::

About The moony gardens lighted by moonlight 🌝 and “something laughable”( lines 5 & 6 ) of the landscape. The Poet sees outside At : 4 : 00 A. M. : “wedge – shadowed gardens lie Under a cavernous, a wind- picked sky.” ( lines 4 & 5 ) Meaning , he sees below the narrowly triangular gardens ( V – Shaped shadowing “wedge” ) lying under an expansive chamber ( “cavernous” hollow ) as if carved out of limestone /white stones depository . There is also a wind taking from the ground to a sky , an elevation high up. : : : :

Notes for Remaining Stanzas 3 To 6 Pending visit this post again later on to enjoy the appreciation of the poem V Jayaraj Pune India September 1 , 2023 : : : : : : : :