How to Read a Poem

How to Read a Poem consists of three stanzas that track the life of an individual who lives vicariously through his reading. It seems that each of the stanzas represents a particular time in the individual’s life, drawing a map of his road to maturity, or lack there of. The title of the poem is awfully ironic, given that it has little to do with the content of the poem. I think it may have something to do with the progression of reading; one beings a poem hoping that it will have lasting significance, but by the end, it can sometimes feel like a let down. This let down is something that the individual discussed in this poem experiences himself.

The first stanza of Study of Reading Habits is talking of the past. The reader knows this because the first line begins with the word “when,” showing that the author is speaking of past times. The individual that Larkin is speaking of did not take his reading habits lightly; it was not just a hobby, but it was a way of life. It was taken so seriously that the individual went so far as to ruin his eyes by reading. It seems that he used reading as an escape from his life that was clearly not as desirable as the lives of those that he read about. He was enveloped by his reading; he was able to “deal out the old right hook” to the bullies that bothered him. Instead of being weak, as he may have been in his real life, he was able to take the power and be the bully to the real bullies in his childhood. Through his readings, the subject became the person that he wanted to be and was able to forget about the individual that he actually was.

The second stanza moves us closer to present day. The subject’s eyes have worsened, and he is still an outcast who now has “inch-think specs.” The individual has begun to take an interest in darker readings. He makes it clear that evil is laughable to him. The second stanza is considerably more violent than the first. It seems as though the individual has more anger and is delving into darker books, one can tell because the diction in the second stanza is much more aggressive. The individual views woman as fragile items that he can break up; the poem conjures the image of “meringues.” His sexual experiences with women make him feel stronger as an individual; he does not have mature, loving relationships with the women whom he is sexually involved with; instead, these relations make him feel dominating over the women that he views as lesser than himself. The tone in the second stanza is disturbing; it seems that the individual feels some excitement toward possessing what may be considered rapist qualities and participating in such actions. The subject is still very involved with his reading as a way to experience a life that he does not possess, and it is clear that his character is reflecting the darkness of his readings.

The third stanza represents the individual as a mature adult.  He no longer sees value in his readings, because the words can no longer take him away from his own life. His readings have become predictable, and he comes to recognize that he has to own his own life and live in that reality. He realizes that the characters in the stories that he has read are not as impressive as they once were; he no longer finds solace in his reading. Due to this, he proclaims “get stewed,” inferring that while books can no longer take him away from his miserable life, alcohol may be able to fill that void. His imagination was once brought alive by reading, and he now believes that alcohol will have the same effect.