Church Going

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Once I am sure there's nothing going on NARRATIVE

I step inside, letting the door thud shut. thud- colloquial

Another church: matting, seats, and stone,

And little books; sprawlings of flowers, cut

For Sunday, brownish now; some brass and stuff - colloquial (irreverance)

Up at the holy end; the small neat organ;

And a tense, musty, unignorable silence, - senses

Brewed God knows how long. Hatless, I take off - light humour / light-heartedness

My cycle-clips in awkward reverence.

Move forward, run my hand around the font.

From where I stand, the roof looks almost new -

Cleaned, or restored? Someone would know: I don't.

Mounting the lectern, I peruse a few

Hectoring large-scale verses, and pronounce

'Here endeth' much more loudly than I'd meant. - comedy

The echoes snigger briefly. Back at the door

I sign the book, donate an Irish sixpence, - of little value

Reflect the place was not worth stopping for.

Yet stop I did: in fact I often do, REFLECTION

And always end much at a loss like this,

Wondering what to look for; wondering, too,

When churches will fall completely out of use

What we shall turn them into, if we shall keep

A few cathedrals chronically on show,

Their parchment, plate and pyx in locked cases, - specific terminology

And let the rest rent-free to rain and sheep.

Shall we avoid them as unlucky places?

Or, after dark, will dubious women come

To make their children touch a particular stone;

Pick simples for a cancer; or on some

Advised night see walking a dead one?

Power of some sort will go on - people's need for meaning

In games, in riddles, seemingly at random;

But superstition, like belief, must die,

And what remains when disbelief has gone?

Grass, weedy pavement, brambles, buttress, sky,

A shape less recognisable each week,

A purpose more obscure. I wonder who

Will be the last, the very last, to seek

This place for what it was; one of the crew

That tap and jot and know what rood-lofts were?

Some ruin-bibber, randy for antique, - colloquial, ordinary, cyncism, dismissiveness

Or Christmas-addict, counting on a whiff

Of gown-and-bands and organ-pipes and myrrh?

Or will he be my representative,

Bored, uninformed, knowing the ghostly silt

Dispersed, yet tending to this cross of ground

Through suburb scrub because it held unspilt

So long and equably what since is found Larkin is attracted to churches for their humanity

Only in separation - marriage, and birth,

And death, and thoughts of these - for which was built

This special shell? For, though I've no idea

What this accoutred frowsty barn is worth,

It pleases me to stand in silence here;

A serious house on serious earth it is,

In whose blent air all our compulsions meet,

Are recognized, and robed as destinies.

And that much never can be obsolete,

Since someone will forever be surprising

A hunger in himself to be more serious,

And gravitating with it to this ground,

Which, he once heard, was proper to grow wise in,

If only that so many dead lie round. - all the people that once celebrated here are dead

(regretting change)

CHURCH GOING - going to church / the Church is going

tension between his disbelief, cynicism and the attraction to churches.

Colloquial language - irreverance, dismissiveness :

'brownish now'

'some brass and stuff'

'up at the holy end'

'some ruin-bibber, randy for antique'

Imagery :

'... sprawlings of flowers, cut

For Sunday, brownish now...'

'special shell'

'A serious house on serious earth it is,

In whose blent air all our compulsions meet,

Are recognised, and robed as destinies'

'Grass, weedy pavement, brambles, buttress, sky'

'accoutred frousty barn'

Appeal to the senses :

' ...a tense, musty, unignorable silence'

'The echoes snigger briefly'

'Some ruin-bibber, randy for antique

Or Christmas-addict, counting on a whiff

Of gown-and-bands and organ-pipes and myrrh'

Humour / light-heartedness

'And a tense, musty, unignorable silence,

Brewed God knows how long'

'awkward reverence'

'... I peruse a few

Hectoring large-scale verses and pronounce

'Here endeth' much more loudly than I'd meant.

The echoes snigger briefly'

Personification

''The echoes snigger briefly'

Specific terminology (not as ignorant as he seemed)

'parchment, plate and pyx in locked cases'

Questions.... speculation

'Yet stop I did : in fact I often do

And always end much at a loss like this,

Wondering what to look for; wondering, too,

When churches fall completely out of use

What shall we turn them into, if we shall keep

A few cathedrals chronically on show,

Their parchment, plate and pyx in locked cases

And let the rest rent-free to rain and sheep.

Shall we avoid them as unlucky places?'

'O, after dark, will dubious women come

To make their children touch a particular stone;

Pick simples for a cancer; or on some

Advised night see walking a dead one?

'And what remains when disbelief is gone?'

'...I wonder who

Will be the last, the very last, to seek

This place for what it was; one of the crew

That tap and jot and know what rood-lofts were?

Some ruin-bibber, randy for antique,

Or Christmas-addict, counting on a whiff

Of gown-and-beads and organ-pipes and myrrh?

Or will he be my representative'

Attraction to churches :

'Another church'

'Yet stop I did : in fact I often do'

'special shell'

'... For though I've no idea

What this accoustred frowsty barn is worth,

It pleases me to stand in silencce here'

coined word :

'ruin-bibber'

recognition of importance :

'Yet stop I did : in fact I often do'

'special shell'

'...For though I've no idea

What this accoustred frowsty barn is worth,

It pleases me to stand in silence here'

'A serious house on serious earth it is,

In whose blent air all our compulsions meet,

Are recognised, and robed as destinies'

'....what since is found

Only in seperation - marriage, and birth,

And death, and thought of these - for which was built

This special shell'

tonal shifts

'Once I am sure there's nothing going on

I step inside, letting the door thus shut'

'....Hatless, I take off

My cycle clips in awkward reverence'

'....Wondering, too,

When churhces fall completely out of use

What shall we turn them into...

Shall we avoid them as unlucky places?'

'But superstition, like belief, must die,

And what remains when disbelief is gone?'

'A serious house on serious earth it is,

In whose blent air all our compulsions meet,

Are recognised, and robed as destinies'

change :

'If only that so many dead lie around'

(tonal shift quotes)

(speculation quotes)

time :

(speculation quotes)

(tonal shift quotes)

ritua

ritual :

ritual :

'Power of some sort or other will go on

In games, in riddles, seemingly at random;

But superstition, like belief, must, must die,

And what remains when disbelief is gone?'

'A serious house on serious earth it is,

In whose blent air all our compulsions meet,

Are recognised, and robed as destinies'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTRYBKIaD30 (Enclavar)

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