Church going by philip larkin: summary and analysis

 Once I am sure there's nothing going on
I step inside, letting the door thud shut.
Another church: matting, seats, and stone,
And little books; sprawlings of flowers, cut
For Sunday, brownish now; some brass and stuff
Up at the holy end; the small neat organ;
And a tense, musty, unignorable silence,
Brewed God knows how long. Hatless, I take off
My cycle-clips in awkward reverence,

The poem begins with the speaker may be Larkin himself standing outside the church, waiting for a short while to ensure that nothing is going on inside the church as he doesn’t want to interrupt the ritual services. The speaker moves  inside and stops. keeps the door ‘thud shut’. It may reflect his attitude of disrespect towards religious institution. Once he is inside his boredom is quite discernible in the dismissive tone like “sprawlings of flowers, cut For Sunday, brownish now”. The descriptions of the church moves from general to the more specific. We see the mattings, seats and stone like he captures all the visuals in the church. He can’t ignore the silence, he takes off his hat, may be an  indication of expressing the mark of respect. There is a gentle humorous and sarcastic expression is here, as Larkin says “musty, unignorable silence, Brewed God knows how long”. Everything constitute the indifferent attitude of the speaker.

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.
The echoes snigger briefly. Back at the door
I sign the book, donate an Irish sixpence,
Reflect the place was not worth stopping for.

Later Larkin explains the roof of the church suggests that some still take care of it. He moves to the lectern and reads a aloud then plays with his own mocking echo. Interestingly he signs the visitors book and donated a valueless ‘Irish sixpence’ for the church. It reflects his loss of faith and he says it was “not worth stopping for”. But often he stops at churches that ends in a loss each time. However he is still drawn to them and wonders, why this is like this?

 

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 we shall 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?

He says the Cathedral and their parchment, plate and pyx are meant for exhibition. Just like the word of Nissim Ezekiel goes “a myth of light with darkness at the core”.  The casual language is intended to show the indifference rather than ignorance. A series of questions surround him like, what happens in the empty building?, that some may be preserved but some are fall into ruin. Again, there occurs a sarcastic tone that the church should be let ‘rent free to rain and sheep’.

 

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 or other will go on
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,

Larkin wonders if churches will come to be viewed as ‘unlucky places’ and may be visited by people moved by superstition rather than religious belief. Some may consider them as haunted. It is indicated by the expression ‘dubious women’, reveals their superstitious nature. There is a fact in which Larkin is certain, that eventually all belief system whether it is based on religion or superstition will fade away, and the churches will fall into ruin. Finally what remains is “Grass, weedy pavement, brambles, buttress, sky”. These are the main hallmarks of the church according to Larkin.

 

A shape less recognizable 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,
Or Christmas-addict, counting on a whiff
Of gown-and-bands and organ-pipes and myrrh?
Or will he be my representative,

As the church degenerates, it comes to be less recognisable and its purpose gradually dwindle from the people’s mind. Larkin wonders who will be the last person to seek shelter in the church by keeping its significance intact. The possible visitors are portrayed here in the tone of mockery. One of the crews is interested in its architectural incredibility, another who fond of anything that is antique(ruin bibber). While the other one wants to be a part of the ceremonies, that once took place here. Perhaps it might be someone like Larkin’s version.

 

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
Only in separation – marriage, and birth,
And death, and thoughts of these – for whom 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;

Larkin now acknowledge the fact that although churches are just an empty shell to him, they have played a significant  role. Churches give meaning to the key moments in life such as birth, marriage and death and link them through ceremonies, thereby giving a meaning and coherence to the peoples’ lives. Without the church, such events would not be linked and would exist only in separation from one another. Despite Larkin’s lack of interest in religion, he nonetheless acknowledges that it has given meaning and consistency to people’s lives and has treated all equally. Through the church, human ‘compulsions’ are acknowledged. The church takes people and their paths through life seriously. There is a part of most people that longs to be treated with such seriousness and respect: ‘that much can never be obsolete’. Without the church, people will be somewhat adrift in the world and may well ‘gravitate to this place where life was once given meaning.      

 

A serious house on serious earth it is,
In whose blent air all our compulsions meet,
Are recognised, 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.

In the concluding stanza of the poem, the poet sums up that the process of going to church will never end and finds its resolution when he says that the bond between God and people can never be broken. The environment empowers us to find out the philosophy of life, if not from the church, then from the church graveyard and you find that your final destination lies here beneath the soil. This ambience promotes a serious thought in you. The church will perform its duties even in the future and give wisdom to the people to change their fate and destiny.