Wedding Wind By Philip Larkin

Summary This narrative poem tells us the story of a wedding day through the voice of the bride. The first stanza tells us about the wedding night The second stanza focuses on the first day of marriage after the wedding day The fictional speaker is a farmer’s wife and there is now honeymoon after the wedding. The husband is disturbed by the noise of a banging stable door and leaves her to shut it. She sees herself in a candlestick. She is sad that others are not as happy as she is now that she is married.

Summary The next day brings the beginning of their new life together as man and wife. This moment is intensified by the wind. The woman is out working in the yard. The ordinary moment in life is practical and shabby (the chipped pail) yet she sees it as significant. She hangs some clothes on the line and the wind thrashes. We get a sense that the wind, like her marriage, changes things. The wind creates a great sense of excitement and she wonders if she can bear it – the happiness, the exultation is almost too great to bear.

Summary The speaker compares the joy to a ‘thread carrying beads’. (which may seek to remind us that these moments are short-lived) The poem ends with three questions. The first one asked if she could cope wi the happiness she has known at the start of the marriage. The second asks if she will be allowed to sleep now that she know such joy in her wedding bed. The third question asks if EVEN death can end this joyful new experience.

Points of interest The poem begins with the ‘my’. The speaker’s husband is referred to as ‘he’ but never by name. In the closing the poem has moved from the ‘I’ and ‘he’ to ‘our’.

Images The poet uses images from the farm and the countryside to reflect the pleasures of marriage. The wind blowing The stable door banging The rain Seeing my face in the twisted candlestick

Images The horses were restless The chipped pail Wind hunting through clouds and forests Thrashing my apron and the hanging cloths on the line. A thread carrying beads Kneeling as cattle by all-generous waters

Themes – things to think about Marriage – the joy of marriage? Joy and happiness The frailty of joyful moments A story of an event or moment

Tone…Mood Deep joy coloured by sadness as the speaker wishes everyone as happy as she is. A series of private, intimate thoughts Contentment with the world and it’s surroundings A sense of sacredness towards the end of the poem – How? Sound and movement play an important part in this poem – disucss in groups. Dramatic/intensity of feeling – sometimes symbolised by the wind Excitement in anticipation FIND THESE IN THE POEM

Style Converstional Narrative Free verse – with some end-rhyme Line 1 iambic tetrameter This contrasts with the unusually long line 2 Repetition of ‘my’, ‘wind’ and ‘wedding’ capture the main ideas in the poem – the title Lines 8,10 rhyme 19/21 rhyme How many times is the word ‘wind’ in the poem? – 5

In Conclusion….. In this poem the speaker uses images of the countryside and the farm to describe the pleasures of marriage. She appears to be trying to understand this wonderful new feeling she has There is a sense of mystery surrounding the bond of love between her and her new husband. We also get a sense that the physical relationship is a kind of new awakening transforming the way the speaker looks at herself and the world around her.