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Analysis Of 'Essential Beauty And Sunny Prestatyn'

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'Larkin strips away the facades and exposes the empty reality of social ideals. ' To what extent do you agree with this statement? Many of Larkin’s poems are seen to heavily discuss the dependence of individuals on social ideals, regardless of their insubstantiality, due to their desire to believe in something – no matter how unreachable it may seem. In the poems ‘Essential Beauty’, ‘An Arundel Tomb’ and ‘Sunny Prestatyn’, Larkin expresses the lack of substantial reality behind declaring privilege as something for everyone, and also by establishing the reactions individuals experience upon facing the reality of life. However, this allows individuals to also be aware of the necessity of having something to work towards in life, proving that despite the lack of much feasibility, social ideals still prove to have some meaning. Hence, I agree with some reservation that the poems display the truth behind the idea of ‘perfection’ that is adopted by society, by proving the flimsiness of its pretenses. Society’s perception of privileges as something attainable for anyone is seen to undermine those who are less fortunate and unable to live as luxuriously as others. This ideal status of being wealthy is propagated throughout society, with the use of advertisements like those seen in ‘Essential Beauty’ and ‘Sunny Prestatyn’. The former poem uses various juxtapositions to display the stark contrast between the ideality of life as opposed to the reality of it by stating that
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