필립 라킨의 상업주의 비판

A Criticism of Commercialism in Philip Larkin's Poetry

This study aims to examine Philip Larkin's critical attitude toward commercialism and consumerism which buttress the modern capitalist society. The study will reveal another significant aspect of his poetic world hidden beneath two contrasting critical views on Larkin that he is a poet pursuing universal themes of human life beyond time and history, or he is a poet with racial prejudices, misogyny, and right-wing political view. In “Here,” Larkin portrays a changing view of post-war Britain in which people crowd into shopping malls to gratify their desires for material affluence with cut-price goods. In “The Large Cool Store,” he looks into the commercialized society which incites consumers to buy mass-produced cheap clothes and robs them of individuality. “Essential Beauty” contrasts the images of ideal life in huge advertising hoardings with sordid pictures of everyday life composed of "rained-on streets and squares." In “Sunny Prestatyn,” Larkin describes a girl's seductive posture in a commercial poster and criticizes the objectification of female sexuality in consumer society. On the basis of his long-time experiences as a university librarian in which he witnesses quantitative expansion and qualitative degradation of post-war universities, in “Posterity” Larkin satirizes the commercialized academic society in which research is determined by economic factors rather than scholastic curiosity and interest. By analyzing his poems in detail, this study will illuminate another aspect of the poet who looks into the issues of modern capitalist society dominated by commercialism and consumerism, and make a contribution to broaden critical perspectives on his poetry.