Introduction of the Poem:
“Dockery and Son” is a monologue in the course of which Larkin recalls some of his past experiences. The occasion of Larkin's recollection of his past experiences was his visit to Oxford to attend the funeral of Agnes Cuming who had been his predecessor at the library in Hull University. This poem is an extract from the volume of poems entitled The Whitsun Weddings.
This poem has an autobiographical touch. It is the first part of it— full of descriptive detail. It is full of nihilism— the uncompromising negativeness of Larkin's outlook.
The poem contains two important ideas. One is that human beings are creatures of habit and the other idea is that life is first boredom, then fear, next old age , and ultimately death . In addition to the two dominating ideas of the poem, we also come across some minor details which heighten the realism of the poem. For instance, the poet had tried to open the door of the room in which he had once himself been living as a student, but had found it locked. Another minor detail is the fact that Sheffield station, Larkin ate a pie which he found awful.
This poem, like most others by Larkin, is written in a condensed style. Though this poem is longer, the style here too shows Larkin's capacity and his tendency to compress his ideas in the fewest possible words.
Summary of the Poem:
When, once, Larkin visited Oxford, for a funeral, he came across the old Dean of studies. The Dean told Larkin that Dockery's son was now a student at the university. Dockery was Larkin's contemporary at Oxford, though he was a couple of years junior to Larkin. When the Dean informed Larkin about Dockery's son being a student there, Larkin, who was appropriately dressed to attend a funeral, nodded to acknowledge the information given to him by the Dean. The Dean reminded the poet of his own days at Oxford when he was a student there. The poet recalled that occasion when he was asked by the Dean to tell him (the Dean) some information related to the previous night. On that occasion in his student days, Larkin had appeared before the Dean in his black gown, without even having taken his breakfast and not yet having fully recovered from the effect of the liquor which he had taken on the previous night. Having met the Dean, Larkin went to the hostel where he used to live during his student days and tried to open the door of his old room, but the door was locked.
After meeting the Dean, Larkin went to the hostel where he used to live during his student - days and tried to open the door of his old room, but it was locked. Hence, he was deprived to inspect the room after so many years. He could only saw the grass lawn stretched in a large area. There was sunlight all around the lawn. He heard the familiar sound of ringing the bell. Larkin then boarded the train which was to take to him back to Hull. Nobody had paid much attention to him on the occasion of this visit of his to the university where he had been a student. The train started on its journey. The canals and the colleges of the university began to fade away in the distance. During his journey, his thoughts went to Dockery who was also a student at Oxford with him. As he got the information that Dockery's son had been studying at Oxford, this meant that Dockery must have got married early in life and that he could not have been older than twenty years at the time of marriage. Larkin recalled that Dockery had been a reserved kind of boy who had received his primary education at a public school and then joined Oxford.
In his next recollections of his past experiences, Larkin recalled the nature of Dockery. He had been a reserved kind of boy. He acquired his early education in a public school. Afterwards for higher education, he joined Oxford. At Oxford he shared a suite of rooms with a young man by the name of Cartwright who had later been killed. Larkin felt that much had taken place when he was a student at Oxford. He also felt that whatever had taken place during his student days, was of little importance. Larkin was drowned in his past experiences. In meanwhile he fell asleep in the train. When the train arrived at Sheffield, which is known an industrial city with many mills, he woke up. After changing train at Sheffield, he took some refreshment which was not at all delicious. After taking refreshment, he started walking on the platform where there was meeting and separation of railway lines. The moon was shining in the cloudless sky and spreading its light on the railway lines.
The poet was walking on the platform of Sheffield station where he saw the railway lines meeting and separating one another. He saw the moon shining in the cloudless sky and spreading its rays over the railway lines. It seemed to Larkin quite natural that he had no son, no wife, no house and no land of his own. He felt it very well that a large part of his life was already over for him and a greater part was lost to him. He pondered over his college mate, Dockery who had married at the early age of nineteen. He also pondered over Dockery's decision of marriage. Larkin thought that after analysing the gains of a married life, Dockery must have decided to marry at the early age. He must have been of the view that having a wife and children increased the value of one's life.
Dockery must have been of the view that having a wife and children increase the value of one's life. Larkin then asked himself how people acquired such beliefs as the one about a family adding to the value of one's life. A man wanted to have a wife and children not because he thought that such a course would be the best or the most valuable for him. The desire to have a wife and children had its source in the fact that it was customary for people to get married and beget children. It was more a matter of custom and habit that people got married and begot children than because people thought marriage and having children to be in themselves valuable which they cherished or longed for.
When Larkin recalled his and Dockery's past life, he found that the years had brought a son to Dockery and nothing to him (Larkin). Dockery had begotten a son and must also have found his son's attitude towards him to be unpleasantly patronizing, because it was the natural tendency and nature of sons that they always thought themselves superior to their parents. They also thought that they were the greatest assets of their parents. Only their presence made the parents feel a kind of joy and pride. They were of the opinion that they could provide pleasures to their parents. Finally Larkin, after deeply observation, came to the conclusion that in the beginning life was something tedious and later became a source of fear. Life always went on whether a man made a beneficial use of life or not. Ultimately a man always grew old and died.
Critical Appreciation of the Poem:
Introduction:
Dockery and Son is a monologue is the course of which Larkin recalls some of his past experiences. This poem is an extract from the volume of the poems entitled The Whitsun Weddings. This poem has an autobiographical touch.
Development of Thought:
The occasion of Larkin's recollection of his past experiences was his visit to Oxford to attend the funeral of Agnes Cuming. His first recollection was that, when he himself had been a student at Oxford, he was at times, summoned by the Dean of his college to give his version of the incidents which had taken place on the previous night in the college or in the hostel. His next recollection was about a fellow - student of the name of Dockery who had married at the age of nineteen or twenty and had begotten a son who was now studying at Oxford just as Dockery himself had once studied at that university. These recollections then led the poet to compare his own circumstances with those of Dockery. Dockery had got a wife and a son, while Larkin had never married all his life. Such thoughts visited Larkin's mind when he was returning to Hull by a railway train after his visit to Oxford to attend a funeral. In the course of this railway journey, and then on the railway platform at a station where he had to catch another train, he thought of people's eagerness to get married and have children. Larkin in his mind attributed this eagerness to the social customs which had a strong hold upon the minds of the people. People got married and begot children as a matter of custom and habit, and not because they found something inherently precious or valuable in marriage and in having children.
A Vital Role of Memories:
The power of memory to grip one's consciousness is echoed in Dockery and Son, as the crisis of the present is emphasized by the immediately of the past. The poet assumes his former position to explain his guilt in the face of authority. His discussion with the Dean finds him still explaining his version of ‘incidents’ in which he had been involved. The poet cannot see himself apart from the comparison he has begun to make between himself and Dockery.
Development into a Sombre Reflection:
The poems opens with the speaker's jocular account of a visit to his old college, but that the suggestion (in the phrase ‘death suited’) that the occasion is a funeral allows the poem to develop into a more sombre reflection on the passing of time. The close proximity of the verbs ‘locked’ and ‘ignored’ reveals the speaker's sense of exclusion from where he ‘used to live’, while the view of Oxford from a train window provided a suitably diminished perspective:
“Canal and clouds and colleges subside
Slowly from view.”
Containing Two Practical and Universal Ideas:
The poem contains two important ideas. One is that human beings are creatures of habit, and the other idea, which finds expression in the four closing lines of the poem, is that life is first boredom, then fear, next old age and ultimately death. Larkin was a death - obsessed man, and he introduced the fact of death and the inevitability of death in many of his poems because death always kept haunting him.
A Moving and Poignant Spirit:
The last four lines of the poem make it a moving and poignant poem. However, we do not agree with Larkin's view that people marry and beget children only because it is customary to do so. Custom certainly has a share in prompting a man to marry and have children, but there is also the basic desire in every human being to have some sort of companionship, and the basic desire to seek the satisfaction of his sexual urge. Once a man has got married, children follow a logical consequence of it.
Realistic Effect:
We also come across some minor details which heighten the realism of the poem. For instance, the poet had tried to open the door of the room in which he had once himself been living as a student, but had found it locked. Then, in the course of his railway journey, he fell asleep and woke up only near Sheffield where he was greeted by the ‘fumes’ and the ‘furnace – glares’ of the industrial city. He ate a pie which was awful. Then he walked along the platform where he saw the railway lines meeting and separating.
Language and Style:
The poem is written in a condensed style. Though this poem is longer, the style here shows Larkin's capacity and his tendency to compress his ideas in the fewest possible words. He only drops hints, leaving us to fill up the gaps. There are two conspicuous similes in the poem: ‘Those warp tight - shut like doors’ and ‘they rear like sand – clouds’. Larkin is very fond of making use of alliteration in his poems. A striking example of this device in this poem is the line: ‘Canal and clouds and colleges subside’. He shows his talent for phrase making and phrase - coining also here. Here are examples: ‘black – gowned, unbreakfasted, and still half – tight’, ‘high - collared public - school boy, sharing rooms with Cartwright who was killed’, ‘waking at the fumes and furnace – glares’, ‘those warp tight – shut’.
Conclusion:
Dockery and Son is one of Larkin's finest poems both as regards its content and its style. What makes Dockery and Son such an imposing poem, however, is that its bleak and uncompromising sentiments appeal for recognition and common agreement while simultaneously provoking dissent.
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