Philip Larkin (1922-85) is widely regarded as being one of the greatest poets writing in English in the late 20th

century. He
seemed to be a man for his time, in that he expressed in his poems many of the thought s and feelings that were typical of
welfare-state post-imperial Britain. This included uncertainty, self-doubt and a mixture of pessimism and hope as the public
mood swung from one to the other and back again.

Larkin's outlook was essentially conservative, which is possibly one reason why he was suggested as a suitable successor to
Sir John Betjeman on the latter's death in 1984 (Larkin turned down the offer, for various reasons). Larkin admired Betjeman's
work, much of which was very nostalgic and looked back with longing to an England that was more ordered and secure than
that of the 1960s and 1970s. Larkin's 1960 poem "MCMXIV" (published in "The Whitsun Weddings", 1964) seems to be in
this tradition, and could almost have been written by Betjeman himself.

The title (1914 in Roman numerals) is itself a throwback, given that such numerals are rarely seen today apart from on the
credits for TV programmes. In introducing his own recorded reading of "The Whitsun Weddings", Larkin commented that
"the emotional impact of nineteen-fourteen in Arabic numerals was too great for anything I could write myself". This device
therefore sets the poem in a remote period to which the poet wished to pay respect.

The poem comprises four 8-line stanzas of which only the fourth and eighth lines rhyme, thus creating, as it were, two "long
uneven lines" in each stanza. Given that this is also the text of his opening line, one wonders if this was an intended pun by
Larkin. Seeing that he was a master of his art who crafted his poems with extreme care and knew exactly what he was doing,
it is quite possible. The first stanza reads:

Those long uneven lines

Standing as patiently
As if they were stretched outside
The Oval or Villa Park,
The crowns of hats, the sun
On moustached archaic faces
Grinning as if it were all
An August Bank Holiday lark;

The thing to note here is the repeated "as if". The image of people queuing for a cricket or football match must be related to
the actual purpose of the queues, which are of men volunteering to join the Army in 1914 after the declaration of war against
Germany. The old photographs and newsreel films that Larkin would have seen must have struck him, as they have many
other people, as being poignant and tragic given what was to happen to many of the volunteers. The impression that this was
all a great adventure, which would not last long or even be particularly hazardous, was one that was current among large
numbers of people in 1914. It was truly an "age of innocence", which is the theme of Larkin's poem. The second stanza paints
a picture of urban life prior to the outbreak of war:

And the shut shops, the bleached

Established names on the sunblinds,
The farthings and sovereigns,
And dark-clothed children at play
Called after kings and queens,
The tin advertisements
For cocoa and twist, and the pubs
Wide open all day;

These images are of an idyllic world in which everything is in the right place and stability is the order of the day, the
implication being that all this changed after 1914. However, there are actually very few items on this list that did not still
apply after the war had ended. Sunday and "early closing day" shop closures continued well into the 20th century, as did the
issue of farthings (worth a quarter of a penny) which only ceased to be legal tender in 1960, the year in which this poem was
written. Granted, gold sovereigns (worth one pound sterling) ceased to be issued after 1917, but the use of "royal" names for
children, such as William, Edward, George and Victoria, did not end then; indeed, these names are still popular in Britain
today.
The one big change, and one that would have struck Larkin in particular given his partiality for beer and whisky, was the
wartime introduction of pub licensing hours. It is only since Larkin's death (hastened by his alcoholism) that these have been
relaxed to allow all day opening once more.The third stanza moves from urban to rural life:

And the countryside not caring:

The place-names all hazed over
With flowering grasses, and fields
Shadowing Domesday lines
Under wheat's restless silence;
The differently-dressed servants
With tiny rooms in huge houses,
The dust behind limousines

It is interesting to note that Larkin refers to the English countryside as something that is passive and, apparently, unpeopled
unless they live as servants "in huge houses". His vision of innocent rural England is one of a place that seems to have gone
to sleep, "hazed over" like the overgrown nameplates of villages that are dotted between fields that have the same boundaries
as when surveyed in the reign of William the Conqueror. He is also nostalgic for the social hierarchy of master and servant.

The countryside is "not caring" about the forthcoming conflict, but of course it could not escape the consequences. Just as the
war would put an end to gold sovereigns and all-day pub opening, so would it have a massive impact on the countryside,
because food production had to be intensified, and on the aristocracy whose sons and servants would soon find themselves
fighting on the Western Front. Many of the great mansions fell into disrepair or were demolished after the war. The final
stanza reads:

Never such innocence,

Never before or since,
As changed itself to past
Without a word – the men
Leaving the gardens tidy,
The thousands of marriages
Lasting a little while longer:
Never such innocence again.

One is referred back to the men of the opening stanza who, in their innocence of what was to happen, left their neat, ordered
lives (typified by the tidy English gardens) and went off to fight. Larkin refers to their "thousands of marriages" which, again
referring to Edwardian stability, would have lasted a lifetime but were destined to be cut short when the men failed to return
or were so damaged by the experience that their marriages were put under severe strain.

Larkin comments ("never before") that this age of innocence is not to be understood as being everything before 1914. It is
generally held that the Edwardian era (from 1901 to the First World War although Edward VII died in 1910) was the pinnacle
of British prestige and power and consequently a golden age of peace and prosperity on the home front. However, all ages
"change themselves to past without a word", and the war was only hastening what would happen with time anyway.

This constant change is Larkin's point; the picture he paints is, fundamentally, that of a myth. It is unreal to expect things to
stay the same, and so innocence will always be lost as each coming generation experiences the new. Permanence is a myth,
and so are beauty and innocence. However, that is not to say that human longings for the past are not natural and inevitable. In
this poem Larkin expresses his sympathy for such longings, but they are still regarded as myths all the same.
Philip Larkin entitled this poem MCMXIV, which are Roman numerals for the number 1914. Many WWI stone memorials
were incised with MCMXIV, so this poem functions as a literary war memorial. Roman numerals are not widely used
anymore. Larkin wrote this poem in the early 1960s, so using Roman numerals is his way of letting the reader know that he is
writing about the past. Larkin was born four years after WWI ended; so he grew up in the aftermath of WWI but it felt like a
distant and unfamiliar event to him. WWI is a major event in world history, because of the huge impact that it had on
humanity; the war may have ended, but it continued to influence lives long after.

"Those long uneven lines" describes the people that are standing in line "as patiently" as they can "outside the Oval or Villa
Park." The Oval is a famous London Cricket Ground, and Villa Park is the Birmingham Football Ground. The people who
would be standing outside of these venues would be eager and anxious to get inside so they could watch the day's sporting
event. This image is also reminiscent of the men lining up outside of the recruiting office around the beginning of WWI; men
were anxious and eager to serve their country. Looking at the long lines of people, all you could see were the tops of hats, and
the sun glaring down on the "archaic" (of, relating to, or characteristic of an earlier or more primitive time) mustached faces of
men, smiling as if they were on "an August bank Holiday lark." The men seemed blissfully unaware of what they were
signing up for when they enlisted; the irony of them grinning is that soon they will long for the days when they could take
pleasure in life and holidays. The August bank Holiday is the first Monday in August. "Lark" is defined as a merry, carefree
adventure; Larkin likes to use the word "lark" in his poems, because it is a play off of his last name.

Bank Holidays are public holidays in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The Bank of England recognized four public holidays:
Easter Monday, Whit Monday or Pentecost Monday, First Monday in August, and Boxing Day (December 26) or St.
Stephen's Day (December 26/27).

The shops are most likely closed for one of two reasons: everyone is on holiday, or because they were out of food. At the start
of WWI people were worried that there would be food shortages, so they went around buying up food, and stashing it for later
on. Many stores ran out of food in a few days at the beginning of August 1914. The "established [store] names on the
sunblinds" have become "bleached" by the sun. The image of the bleached sign functions like the Roman numerals, in the way
that this image is used to show that a lot of time has passed since 1914. "Farthings and sovereigns" are also used to show the
passage of time. Farthings were the least valuable of British coins at the time, and sovereigns were the most valuable. The
"dark-clothed children" is an ominous image; dark clothes are generally reserved for mourning. I believe that "dark-clothed
children at play" is a metaphor for the war; children at play is a very innocent image of youth, and the dark clothes connotes
that either something bad has happened or will happen. WWI took many lives; families were changed forever when fathers,
sons, and brothers were seriously injured or killed. Many of those who were injured or killed were young boys, who didn't
even have the chance to experience life. These children at play may be at peace right now, but in a few short years it will be
their turn to defend their country, and it may cost them their lives. The children were named after kings and queens (George,
Victoria, Henry, Elizabeth, etc.). Advertisements were everywhere during WWI, along with propaganda encouraging men to
enlist. For a few examples of tin advertisements CLICK HERE. The pubs/bars were open all day, because it was supposed to
be a holiday.

The countryside was not as concerned with the war, because they were not as affected by it. The countryside was ruled by the
rich, and the rich generally don't fight in wars. "Place names" refers to the names that places were given when William the
Conqueror had the Domesday Book written in 1085-6. Places were originally named after the environment of the region;
many of the names have been "hazed over" or changed since the 11th Century. The rich had live-in servants, who tended to all
of their needs.

The Domesday Book was a land survey used to assess the extent of the land and resources that were owned by England at the
time, and used to establish how high taxes could be raised. This census was on such a grand and comprehensive scale, and its
irreversible outcome led people to compare it to the Last Judgment, or "Doomsday." When William the Conqueror invaded
England, in 1066, he brought many lords and members of the church with him from France, and William gave them all areas
of land to rule over. William took this land from English natives, and they in turn became vassals of William's friends.
England during this time operated on the feudal system:
"At the top sat King William who granted land to tenant-in-chief - usually lords or members of the Church, in return for their
assistance in the Norman Conquest. Next down the ladder came under tenants who held land from the tenants-in-chief, and so
it continued with the bottom of the ladder being occupied by peasants - villagers, bordars and cottars - who earned their
opportunity to hold a small amount of land by working on the land of the lordship, and slaves, who held no land"
(Doomesdaybook.co.uk). Medieval farmers were give long and narrow plots to farm.

People weren't ready for the devastation that was WWI. Innocence was lost forever along with the many men who died
fighting for England.

In summary, ‘MCMXIV’ focuses on the year 1914 – the year of the outbreak of the First World War, in August 1914. This
setting for the poem is hinted at in Larkin’s reference to the ‘August Bank Holiday lark’. The first stanza focuses on an old
photograph depicting a group of men who have just signed up to fight in the war, the ‘long uneven lines’ denoting the old
style of taking photographs with people arranged into long rows. The expressions on the faces of these men suggests they
view the war as a ‘lark’ or a game – no different from a cricket match (‘the Oval’) or a football match (‘Villa Park’). The time
setting of 1914 is glimpsed in the broad brush-strokes Larkin paints: the fact that the men are all wearing hats, and the fact that
they sport moustaches, after the fashion of the day. Even their faces look ‘archaic’, i.e. old-fashioned.

mcmxiv-larkin-army-recruitmentFrom this starting point, the second stanza then zooms out – as so many of Philip Larkin’s
poems do – to consider the wider context: the style of the shop fronts in those days, the old coins, the children all having
names like Victoria and Elizabeth and George and Edward, having been named after kings and queens (no Britneys or
Chardonnays back then), the pubs all being open all day (licensing hours were only introduced under the Defence of the
Realm Act during WWI).

The third stanza then leaves the world of the town behind and pans out yet further, to consider the countryside, and the big
country estates with their clear staff hierarchies (the servants being dressed differently depending on their rank or position in
the household): this is the pre-war period that the first series of Downton Abbey would reflect, in more recent times. The
reference to ‘Domesday lines’ takes us back to the Norman Conquest of 1066, and the Domesday Book, that vast audit of
English towns, cities, and villages undertaken under William the Conqueror. What Larkin is suggesting here is nearly 1,000
years of unaltered English history and social structures, all of which is about to be undermined and destroyed by the First
World War.

The final stanza forms a sort of conclusion to the poem, with Larkin pondering the change wrought by the war. The innocent
way of life embodied by the pre-war world, and outlined earlier in ‘MCMXIV’, has gone forever. Larkin ends with a couple
of examples which are ambiguously phrased. The many men ‘leaving the gardens tidy’ suggests not only the idea that before
the war men seemed to be in touch with the land in a more intimate way, but also the notion of these men ‘leaving’ their
gardens behind for the very different terrain of the Western Front, many of them never to return. The mention of the marriages
lasting ‘a little while longer’ similarly houses two meanings: marriages lasted longer in those days because divorce was less
common and people were more traditional in their approach to marriage, but all of these marriages were, of course, literally to
last only a little while longer – until the husbands were killed in the conflict.