“The Whitsun Weddings” Introduction

• Read the full text of “The Whitsun Weddings”

“The Whitsun Weddings” Summary

“The Whitsun Weddings” Themes

• 

  Time, Death, and Impermanence

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-6
  • Lines 6-8
  • Line 8
  • Lines 9-10
  • Lines 11-20
  • Lines 27-33
  • Lines 33-45
  • Lines 45-80
• 

  Love and Marriage

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 21-80
• 

  Alienation and Community

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-27
  • Lines 36-45
  • Lines 48-55
  • Lines 58-63
  • Lines 64-68
  • Lines 74-77

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Whitsun Weddings”

• Lines 1-6

  That Whitsun, I ...
  ... a hurry gone.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 6-10

  We ran ...
  ... and water meet.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-16

  All afternoon, through ...
  ... hothouse flashed uniquely:

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 16-20

  hedges dipped ...
  ... of dismantled cars.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-27

  At first, I ...
  ... went on reading.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 27-33

  Once we started, ...
  ... that survived it.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 33-38

  Struck, I leant ...
  ... uncle shouting smut;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 38-41

  and then the ...
  ... from the rest.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 42-46

      Yes, from ...
  ... rest stood round;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 47-51

  The last confetti ...
  ... and wholly farcical;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 52-57

      The women ...
  ... gouts of steam.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 58-63

  Now fields were ...
  ... got under way.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 64-68

  They watched the ...
  ... contain this hour.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 69-75

  I thought of ...
  ... Travelling coincidence;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 75-80

  and what it ...
  ... somewhere becoming rain.

  

  

  

  

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“The Whitsun Weddings” Symbols

• 

  The Countryside

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Lines 9-10: “The river’s level drifting breadth began, / Where sky and Lincolnshire and water meet.”
  • Lines 14-15: “Wide farms went by, short-shadowed cattle, and / Canals with floatings of industrial froth”
  • Lines 16-17: “hedges dipped / And rose: and now and then a smell of grass”
• 

  The Urban and Industrial Environment

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Lines 7-8: “the backs of houses, crossed a street / Of blinding windscreens, smelt the fish-dock;”
  • Line 15: “Canals with floatings of industrial froth;”
  • Lines 19-20: “Until the next town, new and nondescript, / Approached with acres of dismantled cars.”
  • Lines 58-59: “Now fields were building-plots, and poplars cast / Long shadows over major roads,”
  • Lines 65-66: “—An Odeon went past, a cooling tower, / And someone running up to bowl—”
  • Lines 69-70: “I thought of London spread out in the sun, / Its postal districts packed like squares of wheat:”
  • Line 73: “walls of blackened moss”

“The Whitsun Weddings” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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  Where alliteration appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “Whitsun,” “was”
  • Line 3: “sunlit Saturday”
  • Line 7: “Behind,” “backs”
  • Line 9: “breadth,” “began”
  • Line 10: “Where,” “water”
  • Line 13: “slow,” “stopping,” “southwards”
  • Line 14: “short-shadowed cattle”
  • Line 15: “Canals,” “floatings,” “froth”
  • Line 16: “hothouse,” “flashed,” “hedges”
  • Line 18: “carriage-cloth”
  • Line 19: “next,” “new,” “nondescript”
  • Line 21: “notice,” “noise”
  • Line 23: “station,” “stopped,” “sun”
  • Line 24: “interest,” “in”
  • Line 26: “with”
  • Line 27: “went,” “Once,” “we”
  • Line 28: “passed,” “grinning,” “pomaded,” “girls”
  • Line 29: “parodies”
  • Line 30: “posed”
  • Line 33: “something,” “survived,” “Struck”
  • Line 36: “broad belts,” “suits”
  • Line 37: “seamy foreheads,” “fat”
  • Line 38: “then the”
  • Line 40: “mauves”
  • Line 41: “Marked”
  • Line 43: “banquet-halls,” “bunting-dressed”
  • Line 44: “wedding-days”
  • Line 45: “Were”
  • Line 46: “couples climbed,” “rest,” “round”
  • Line 48: “And, as,” “define”
  • Line 49: “departing”
  • Line 50: “dull,” “fathers”
  • Line 51: “Success so,” “farcical”
  • Line 53: “funeral”
  • Line 54: “girls, gripping”
  • Line 55: “last”
  • Line 56: “loaded,” “sum,” “saw”
  • Line 58: “plots,” “poplars”
  • Line 60: “Some,” “seem”
  • Line 61: “settle,” “say”
  • Line 62: “died”
  • Line 63: “dozen”
  • Line 64: “sitting side,” “side”
  • Line 66: “none”
  • Line 67: “Thought,” “the,” “they,” “never”
  • Line 68: “their”
  • Line 69: “spread,” “sun”
  • Line 70: “postal,” “packed”
  • Line 71: “we were,” “we”
  • Line 73: “Past,” “Pullmans”
  • Line 74: “Came close”
  • Line 77: “slowed”
  • Line 78: “swelled”
  • Line 79: “sense”
  • Line 80: “Sent,” “sight,” “somewhere”

• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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  Where allusion appears in the poem:

  • Lines 77-80: “We slowed again, / And as the tightened brakes took hold, there swelled / A sense of falling, like an arrow-shower / Sent out of sight, somewhere becoming rain.”

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where assonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “late,” “away”
  • Line 3: “One-twenty,” “sunlit,” “Saturday”
  • Line 4: “three,” “empty,” “train”
  • Line 5: “All,” “all,” “hot,” “all”
  • Line 6: “being,” “hurry,” “gone,” “ran”
  • Line 7: “backs,” “street”
  • Line 8: “windscreens,” “fish-dock”
  • Line 9: “The river’s level drifting breadth began”
  • Line 10: “sky,” “Lincolnshire,” “meet”
  • Line 11: “All afternoon, through,” “tall”
  • Line 13: “kept”
  • Line 14: “went,” “shadowed cattle, and”
  • Line 15: “Canals,” “froth”
  • Line 16: “hothouse,” “hedges”
  • Line 17: “then,” “smell”
  • Line 18: “of buttoned”
  • Line 23: “Each,” “we”
  • Line 25: “cool,” “whoops”
  • Line 27: “reading,” “we”
  • Line 29: “parodies,” “heels”
  • Line 30: “posed irresolutely,” “go”
  • Line 31: “end,” “event”
  • Line 32: “goodbye”
  • Line 33: “survived”
  • Line 35: “saw,” “all”
  • Line 36: “fathers,” “broad”
  • Line 37: “mothers”
  • Line 38: “uncle,” “smut”
  • Line 40: “mauves,” “ochres”
  • Line 41: “Marked off”
  • Line 42: “cafés”
  • Line 43: “banquet-halls,” “yards,” “dressed”
  • Line 44: “annexes,” “wedding”
  • Line 45: “end,” “line”
  • Line 46: “Fresh,” “climbed,” “rest”
  • Line 47: “last,” “and”
  • Line 48: “And, as we,” “each,” “seemed”
  • Line 49: “saw departing”
  • Line 50: “something dull”
  • Line 51: “so,” “wholly”
  • Line 54: “While,” “tighter”
  • Line 56: “sum of all,” “saw”
  • Line 57: “We hurried,” “ London, shuffling,” “steam”
  • Line 58: “fields,” “plots,” “poplars”
  • Line 59: “Long shadows over major roads”
  • Line 60: “minutes,” “in”
  • Line 61: “hats and”
  • Line 62: “I ,” “died”
  • Line 63: “way”
  • Line 64: “They,” “landscape,” “side by side”
  • Line 66: “someone,” “ running up,” “none”
  • Line 67: “others”
  • Line 69: “London,” “sun”
  • Line 71: “aimed. And as,” “raced across”
  • Line 72: “knots,” “rail”
  • Line 73: “Past standing,” “walls,” “blackened moss”
  • Line 74: “Came,” “it was,” “done, this frail”
  • Line 75: “Travelling,” “and,” “held”
  • Line 76: “ready to,” “loosed”
  • Line 77: “That being,” “can,” “We slowed”
  • Line 78: “hold, there swelled”
  • Line 79: “sense,” “an arrow-shower”
  • Line 80: “Sent out,” “somewhere becoming”

• Asyndeton

  

  

  

  

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  Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

  • Lines 5-8: “All windows down, all cushions hot, all sense / Of being in a hurry gone. We ran / Behind the backs of houses, crossed a street / Of blinding windscreens, smelt the fish-dock;”
  • Lines 36-38: “The fathers with broad belts under their suits / And seamy foreheads; mothers loud and fat; / An uncle shouting smut;”
  • Lines 46-47: “Fresh couples climbed aboard: the rest stood round; / The last confetti and advice were thrown,”
  • Lines 49-53: “children frowned / At something dull; fathers had never known / Success so huge and wholly farcical; /     The women shared / The secret like a happy funeral;”

• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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  Where caesura appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “Whitsun, I”
  • Line 5: “down, all,” “hot, all”
  • Line 6: “gone. We”
  • Line 7: “houses, crossed”
  • Line 8: “windscreens, smelt”
  • Line 11: “afternoon, through”
  • Line 14: “by, short-shadowed,” “cattle, and”
  • Line 16: “uniquely: hedges”
  • Line 17: “rose: and”
  • Line 19: “town, new”
  • Line 21: “first, I”
  • Line 23: “at: sun”
  • Line 27: “reading. Once,” “started, though,”
  • Line 28: “them, grinning,” “pomaded, girls”
  • Line 29: “fashion, heels”
  • Line 30: “irresolutely, watching”
  • Line 33: “it. Struck,”
  • Line 34: “time, more”
  • Line 37: “foreheads; mothers”
  • Line 38: “smut; and”
  • Line 40: “lemons, mauves, and”
  • Line 42: “Yes, from”
  • Line 43: “yards, and”
  • Line 44: “annexes, the ”
  • Line 45: “end. All”
  • Line 46: “aboard: the”
  • Line 48: “moved, each”
  • Line 49: “departing: children”
  • Line 50: “dull; fathers”
  • Line 54: “girls, gripping,” “tighter, stared”
  • Line 55: “wounding. Free”
  • Line 57: “London, shuffling”
  • Line 58: “building-plots, and”
  • Line 59: “roads, and”
  • Line 60: “minutes, that”
  • Line 64: “landscape, sitting”
  • Line 65: “past, a”
  • Line 66: “bowl—and”
  • Line 71: “aimed. And”
  • Line 73: “Pullmans, walls”
  • Line 74: “close, and,” “done, this”
  • Line 75: “coincidence; and”
  • Line 77: “give. We”
  • Line 78: “hold, there”
  • Line 79: “falling, like”
  • Line 80: “sight, somewhere”

• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where consonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 1
  • Line 2
  • Line 3
  • Line 4
  • Line 5
  • Line 6
  • Line 7
  • Line 8
  • Line 9
  • Line 10
  • Line 11
  • Line 12
  • Line 13
  • Line 14
  • Line 15
  • Line 16
  • Line 17
  • Line 18
  • Line 19
  • Line 20
  • Line 21
  • Line 22
  • Line 23
  • Line 24
  • Line 25
  • Line 26
  • Line 27
  • Line 28
  • Line 29
  • Line 30
  • Line 31
  • Line 32
  • Line 33
  • Line 34
  • Line 35
  • Line 36
  • Line 37
  • Line 38
  • Line 39
  • Line 40
  • Line 41
  • Line 43
  • Line 44
  • Line 45
  • Line 46
  • Line 47
  • Line 48
  • Line 49
  • Line 50
  • Line 51
  • Line 53
  • Line 54
  • Line 55
  • Line 56
  • Line 57
  • Line 58
  • Line 59
  • Line 60
  • Line 61
  • Line 62
  • Line 63
  • Line 64
  • Line 65
  • Line 66
  • Line 67
  • Line 68
  • Line 69
  • Line 70
  • Line 71
  • Line 72
  • Line 73
  • Line 74
  • Line 75
  • Line 76
  • Line 77
  • Line 78
  • Lines 78-78
  • Line 79
  • Line 80

• Diacope

  

  

  

  

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  Where diacope appears in the poem:

  • Line 5: “All,” “all,” “all”
  • Line 34: “More,” “more”
  • Line 64: “side by side”

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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  Where enjambment appears in the poem:

  • Lines 2-3: “about / One”
  • Lines 3-4: “Saturday / Did”
  • Lines 5-6: “sense / Of”
  • Lines 6-7: “ran / Behind”
  • Lines 7-8: “street / Of”
  • Lines 11-12: “slept /     For”
  • Lines 14-15: “and / Canals”
  • Lines 16-17: “dipped / And”
  • Lines 17-18: “grass / Displaced”
  • Lines 18-19: “carriage-cloth / Until”
  • Lines 21-22: “noise /     The”
  • Lines 22-23: “made / Each”
  • Lines 23-24: “destroys / The”
  • Lines 25-26: “skirls / I”
  • Lines 28-29: “girls / In”
  • Lines 31-32: “event /     Waving”
  • Lines 32-33: “goodbye / To”
  • Lines 33-34: “leant / More”
  • Lines 36-37: “suits / And”
  • Lines 40-41: “that / Marked”
  • Lines 42-43: “cafés / And”
  • Lines 43-44: “bunting-dressed / Coach-party”
  • Lines 44-45: “wedding-days / Were”
  • Lines 45-46: “line / Fresh”
  • Lines 48-49: “ define / Just”
  • Lines 49-50: “frowned / At”
  • Lines 50-51: “known / Success”
  • Lines 52-53: “shared / The”
  • Lines 54-55: “stared / At”
  • Lines 58-59: “cast / Long”
  • Lines 59-60: “for / Some”
  • Lines 60-61: “seem / Just”
  • Lines 61-62: “say /      / I ”
  • Lines 64-65: “side / —An”
  • Lines 66-67: “none / Thought”
  • Lines 67-68: “meet / Or”
  • Lines 71-72: “across /     Bright”
  • Lines 72-73: “rail / Past”
  • Lines 73-74: “moss / Came”
  • Lines 74-75: “frail / Travelling”
  • Lines 75-76: “held / Stood”
  • Lines 76-77: “power / That”
  • Lines 78-79: “swelled / A”
  • Lines 79-80: “arrow-shower / Sent”

• Simile

  

  

  

  

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  Where simile appears in the poem:

  • Lines 31-33: “As if out on the end of an event /     Waving goodbye / To something that survived it.”
  • Lines 52-53: “    The women shared / The secret like a happy funeral;”
  • Lines 69-70: “I thought of London spread out in the sun, / Its postal districts packed like squares of wheat”
  • Lines 78-80: “there swelled / A sense of falling, like an arrow-shower / Sent out of sight, somewhere becoming rain.”

• Zeugma

  

  

  

  

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  Where zeugma appears in the poem:

  • Line 47: “The last confetti and advice were thrown”

“The Whitsun Weddings” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Whitsun
• Lincolnshire
• Hothouse
• Reek
• Carriage-Cloth
• Nondescript
• Whoops and Skirls
• Porters
• Larking
• Pomaded
• Seamy
• Smut
• Perms
• Bunting-Dressed
• Annexes
• Gouts of Steam
• Poplars
• Odeon
• Pullmans

• (Location in poem: Line 1: “Whitsun”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Whitsun Weddings”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Whitsun Weddings” Speaker

“The Whitsun Weddings” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Whitsun Weddings”

More “The Whitsun Weddings” Resources

• External Resources

  • Larkin's Life and Work — A valuable resource from the Poetry Foundation. 

  • A Reading of the Poem — Listen to the poem read by the poet himself. 

  • Weddings Statistics — An interesting analysis of the changing social habits of marriage through the years, from the British Office of National Statistics. 

  • Return to Larkinland — Watch a BBC documentary about Larkin and the importance of place in his poetry.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Philip Larkin

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  • A Study of Reading Habits

  • Church Going

  • Coming

  • Home Is So Sad

  • MCMXIV

  • Money

  • Mr Bleaney

  • Next, Please

  • Poetry of Departures

  • Talking in Bed

  • The Trees

  • This Be The Verse

  • Water