Faith Healing The poem describes a faith healer in action, healing a large amount of women at one time, because of this “healing” is

rushed. He doesn’t take the time to do the job properly; rather he “heals” as many people as possible making the procedure almost clinical, giving each woman no longer than 20 seconds. “Stewards

tirelessly persuade them onwards”

As with most of his poems Larkin is critical of the faith healer. His description of the man seems false and plastic. The healer feels patronising, like he believes that he has the power of god, therefore making him more important. He’s extremely aware of his own righteousness. The healer is, in Larkin’s poems your “typical” man. He’s above everyone around him and he knows it. Each woman is strongly affected by the experience; they are now able to experience things that they previously couldn’t. The women aren’t seeking perfection, just improvement. They wished to be loved, be respected so they may achieve their dreams, no matter how small. This is supported by the last stanza where it describes their reaction to the healing, they believed it was the “the difference they could make”. Although it never actually describes the women as being healed it does show the relief they feel, their compressed emotions being expressed. The women are looking for something to ease the pain, no matter the cost, or what they are conned into believing. The absence of love and happiness is made up for when they find religion.

Analysis

Larkin’s Techniques Some interesting things to write down… “Upright in rimless glasses, silver hair” – This creates the idea of an innocent old man, who women would feel sorry for and would think he wouldn’t do anything wrong or lie to them, making them believe his words more. “Within whose warm spring rain of loving care” – This adds to the old man’s appearance, giving comfort to the women. It shows the way Larkin sees women – easily manipulated into believing that everything is okay. “Their thick tongues blort” – Blort is a neologism – a made up word. This represents how Larkin doesn’t believe in the idea of faith healing. “Their eyes squeeze grief” – This shows sympathy towards the women, who are forced to hide their emotions but are given away through their eyes. “The rigid landscape weeps” – This is anthropomorphic – it gives nature and emotion. It’s like the landscape is crying because of how gullible these women are.

Women

Similar in some ways to ‘Love Songs in Age’, this poem is about women, though it describes a group of women rather than focusing on the particular one in ‘Love Songs’. Nevertheless, like many of Larkin’s poems, it’s based on a real event.

Age

The theme of age is consistent in Larkin’s poems. ‘Silver hair’ implies age and the elderly, essentially meaning that death is on the horizon. We see the theme of death in poems such as Ambulances, Toads and Dockery and Son.

Misogynistic attitude Larkin describes them as “Moustached in flowered frocks”, giving a sense of their ugliness. This indicates the misogynistic attitude Larkin had of women because the individuals appear unattractive and manly. This theme is also presented in ‘Afternoons’ where the role of women is insignificant, unlike the male. Likewise, Larkin calls the women who attend the wedding in The Whitsun Weddings ‘loud’ and ‘fat’ which clearly shows gender stereotyping and a strong dislike against females. Larkin later describes them as a ‘kind of dumb and idiot child’ which suggests females are vulnerable and easily led, essentially meaning they have no common sense.

Religion On a similar theme to Water, Faith Healing is about the institution of religion and how it has morphed into a construct used to exploit the vulnerable. Larkin makes more of a judgment in this poem than in Water, suggesting that he understands why people would be religious but thinks that sometimes people can take it too far.

Love

"Saying dear child, and all time has disproved"- the reality is that love is disappointing and untrue. We rely on love and faith healings to solve our problems when we ourselves cannot. This idea is also shown in ‘Talking in Bed’ where we are shown the reality of relationships and love, it’s an illusion and unfulfilling.