High Windows Comments

I agree with what has been said about the poem already. The sharp, shocking start almost blends and smoothens out towards the ending lines. This is one of those Larkin poems that showcases hope. A hope to reach something that is greater and much beyond us.

The power of this poem lies in the journey Larkin makes from the suffocating baseness of the opening stanza to the freedom of the final stanza, it is almost as if the poet breathes in a large gulp of oxygen after struggling with his breathing. Larkin turns our usual perceptions of life and death on their heads. It is life that becomes stifling in this poem and death that is releasing.