Philip Larkin

          In Philip Larkin’s poem, “Talking in Bed” he uses the theme, failures of love, to express his concern for a couple’s inability to communicate and ultimately leads to a failing relationship. Throughout the poem, Larkin questions why the subject’s (the couple) relationship and how it failed. “Talking in bed ought to be easiest, Lying together there goes back so far, An emblem of two people being honest.”  The narrator is expressing his concern about their relationship being based of dishonesty. Instead of the bed being a place where the spouses come back as one, it is symbolized as a place of detachment and lies. . The word "lying" has a twofold meaning in this poem; on one hand it means that the couple in assuming a horizontal position together, and on the other hand, it means that there is some untruthfulness or falsehood between the couple.  "Goes back so far" also has a double meaning: first, the couple has been "lying together" in their bed for years (they have been married a long time); and second, they have been dishonest with each other for years.            The poem is filled with ups and downs of the marriage and how it is subject for turmoil. Tensions build between the couple but neither party releases in concern so the problems continue unresolved. The narrator also uses words such a “isolated” to represent the couples growing apart “At this unique distance from isolation.” He later writes about how their marriage has grown so far apart that they don’t even talk anymore or how they used to talk/love each other at one point in time earlier in their relationship. “It becomes still more difficult to find, Words at once true and kind, Or not untrue and not unkind.” This poem represents people falling into silence and how communication of change can affect a relationship for the better instead of falling into a silence and never seeing any positive outcome of a relationship.