Days

Days-Philip Larkin 

The themes of the poem include Madness, Boredom and Repetition.  Larkin also uses the constant theme of mortality and the pointless brevity of life.

The first line of the poem "what are days for?" is a rhetorical question that Larkin asks himself. In the rest of the stanza Larkin answers his question by saying what days do and personifying them by using the word "they".

In the second stanza Larkin says  that " solving the question Brings the priest and the doctor". the priest represents birth and it also represents the death of things as well, which shows the life and death of days. The doctor on the other hand prevents death. The final line in  the poem " Running over the fields" suggest that it his an emergency like 'Ambulances' for example. it also suggests that they are ruing nature because they are " running over fields".

The answer to the first question: "Days are where we live", implies a matter of fact, placatory tone as the simple question is answered by an equally simple (though worrying) answer. At first, the voice appears to be kindly, positive even, telling the questioner that days are "to be happy in." In the final lines of the poem, this second voice adopts a worldly, macabre tone, almost mocking and cruel, as it dryly observes that the only place people can inhabit, apart from days, is death.

The word "days" is repeated three times and this repetition forces the reader to think about the meaning of the word. In line two, the speaker tells the questioner "Days are where we live", raising interesting questions about the nature of time, how it is measured and its artificiality. Days are not a place, not a "where", but a when and it is this paradox that leads to the bleak response to the second question. Once a person no longer has any days left to live in, the only other place that person can occupy will be the grave.

The chief theme in "Days" is the futility of existence. As in many of his poems, Larkin examines with brutal honesty the inevitable truth that all life must end in death. The single image in the poem is of "the priest and the doctor" coming "running over the fields". This disturbing image implies that once a person has run out of days, the only solution is death, and if this is the case, then what is the point of filling endless days with living?

The only detail in the poem is the line that describes the "long coats" of the priest and doctor. This makes them appear sinister, frantic individuals, hurrying across fields towards they dying patient. Their haste seems indecent, as if they are greedy for death, not intent upon healing, or comforting.

 Larkin is no sentimentalist, but in sharing his fears and doubts, at least there is a commonality of despair and a community of hopelessness