ANALYSIS OF THE CAUSES OF PHILIP LARKIN’S WOUNDS IN THE MIRROR OF FREUD’S PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY

Abstract

Philip Larkin is one of the prominent post-modern poets who tackled with various themes in his poems. He approached his ideas directly or indirectly. This study aims to analyze selected poems of Philip Larkin as one of the most vital figures of English poetry. The analysis of the poems is achieved on the basis of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory which is regarded as a great criterion used in modern English literature. Psychoanalysis is a well-known method that helps critics and readers to interpret and dive deep beneath the meanings of the lines of the poems to get familiar with the unconscious mind of poets. Sigmund Freud in his work The Interpretation of Dreams (1900) believes that poetry is the dream of poets and writers. So, the one who reads the literary work has to use psychoanalysis as a focal method and technique for finding and figuring out the hidden meanings and intentions of the writer within the work. Psychoanalysis, to a great extent, aids critics and readers to understand the conflict between Id, Ego and Superego as well the inner psyche of the writer in order to comprehend the reasons behind the writer’s actions and behaviors.