LitCharts (2024)

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The British poet Philip Larkin published "This Be The Verse" in 1971. The poem is about the way that parents pass their flaws and emotional complications on to their children, who in turn pass their own misery on to their children. The only way to stop this cycle, the speaker suggests in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek tone, is to "get out" of life without having kids. Written in iambic tetrameter with a strict ABAB rhyme scheme, the poem borrows its title from Robert Louis Stevenson's poem "Requiem," which celebrates the idea of finding happiness and peace in death. For the speaker of "This Be The Verse," though, death is merely a way to avoid inevitable family tensions.

• Read the full text of “This Be The Verse”

• “This Be The Verse” Summary

• “This Be The Verse” Themes

  • 

    Parenting and Emotional Damage

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-12

  • 

    Misery and Suffering

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 9-12

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “This Be The Verse”

  • Lines 1-2

    They f*ck you ...
    ... but they do.

  • Lines 3-4

    They fill you ...
    ... just for you.

  • Lines 5-6

    But they were ...
    ... hats and coats,

  • Lines 7-8

    Who half the ...
    ... one another’s throats.

  • Lines 9-10

    Man hands on ...
    ... a coastal shelf.

  • Lines 11-12

    Get out as ...
    ... any kids yourself.

• “This Be The Verse” Symbols

  • 

    The Coastal Shelf

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    See Also

    Critical Appreciation of Philip Larkin’s Poem, "The North Ship": Life Award for Best Philosophical Access

    • Line 10: “coastal shelf”

• “This Be The Verse” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Anaphora

    Where anaphora appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “They”
    • Line 2: “They”
    • Line 3: “They”
    • Line 7: “Who half”
    • Line 8: “And half ”

  • Assonance

    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “f*ck,” “up,” “mum”
    • Line 2: “They,” “may,” “to,” “they,” “do”
    • Line 3: “you,” “had”
    • Line 4: “add”
    • Line 5: “f*cked,” “up”
    • Line 6: “old,” “hats,” “coats”
    • Line 7: “half,” “were,” “stern”
    • Line 8: “half,” “at,” “one,” “another’s”
    • Line 9: “Man,” “hands,” “misery,” “man”
    • Line 10: “deepens”
    • Line 11: “as,” “as,” “can”
    • Line 12: “And,” “have,” “any”

  • Alliteration

    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “may,” “mean”
    • Line 3: “fill,” “faults”
    • Line 5: “they,” “f*cked,” “their”
    • Line 6: “fools,” “hats”
    • Line 7: “Who,” “half,” “soppy,” “stern”
    • Line 8: “half”
    • Line 9: “Man,” “misery,” “man”

  • Caesura

    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “up, your”
    • Line 2: “to, but”
    • Line 4: “extra, just”

  • Consonance

    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “you,” “your,” “mum,” “dad”
    • Line 2: “may,” “mean”
    • Line 3: “They,” “fill,” “with,” “the,” “faults,” “they,” “had”
    • Line 4: “And,” “add,” “some,” “extra,” “just”
    • Line 5: “f*cked”
    • Line 6: “fools,” “old,” “style,” “hats,” “coats”
    • Line 7: “Who,” “half,” “time,” “soppy,” “stern”
    • Line 8: “And,” “half,” “one,” “another’s,” “throats”
    • Line 9: “Man,” “hands,” “on,” “misery,” “man”
    • Line 10: “deepens,” “coastal,” “shelf”
    • Line 11: “Get,” “out,” “early,” “can”
    • Line 12: “And,” “don’t,” “any,” “kids,” “yourself”

  • End-Stopped Line

    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “dad.”
    • Line 2: “do.”
    • Line 3: “had”
    • Line 4: “you.”
    • Line 5: “turn”
    • Line 6: “coats,”
    • Line 7: “soppy-stern”
    • Line 8: “throats.”
    • Line 9: “man.”
    • Line 10: “shelf.”
    • Line 11: “can,”
    • Line 12: “yourself.”

  • Epanalepsis

    Where epanalepsis appears in the poem:

    • Line 9: “Man hands on misery to man.”

  • Simile

    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Line 10: “It deepens like a coastal shelf.”

• “This Be The Verse” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Faults
  • Soppy-Stern
  • Misery
  • Coastal Shelf

  • (Location in poem: Line 3: “faults”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “This Be The Verse”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “This Be The Verse” Speaker

• “This Be The Verse” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “This Be The Verse”

• More “This Be The Verse” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Zoe Wanamaker Reads the Poem— Watch the British actor Zoe Wanamaker read "This Be The Verse" aloud.

    • Larkin's Life— For more information about Philip Larkin, take a look at this brief overview of his life and work.

    • The Poet's Voice— Listen to Philip Larkin himself read "This Be The Verse."

    • The Paris Review Interview— Check out Philip Larkin's interview with The Paris Review, which was published in 1982 as part of the magazine's "The Art of Poetry" series.

    • Portrait of the Artist— Take a look at the six portraits of Philip Larkin that exist in the National Portrait Gallery's online archive.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Philip Larkin

    • Afternoons

    • An Arundel Tomb

    • A Study of Reading Habits

    • Church Going

    • Coming

    • Home Is So Sad

    • MCMXIV

    • Money

    • Mr Bleaney

    • Next, Please

    • Poetry of Departures

    • Talking in Bed

    • The Trees

    • The Whitsun Weddings

    • Water