Essay on Analysis and Summary of Church Going

Words: 1316
Pages: 6
Open Document
“Church Going,” a poem of seven nine-line stanzas, is a first-person description of a visit to an empty English country church. The narrator is apparently on a cycling tour (he stops to remove his bicycle clips), a popular activity for British workers on their summer holiday. He has come upon a church and stopped to look inside. Not wishing to participate in a worship service, the visitor checks first to make “sure there’s nothing going on.” He will eventually reveal that he is an agnostic and that his interest in churches is not derived from religious faith.
This church is empty, so he walks in, observing all of the usual accoutrements: “matting, seats, and stone,/ And little books.” His irreverence is captured in his tone as he observes …show more content…
Furthermore, the rhyme is so subtle as to be almost unnoticed in the reading. Only a few of the rhyming words are exact rhymes, and these are often very ordinary words (for example, “door” and “for” in stanza 2, and “do” and “too” in stanza 3) that do not call attention to themselves. Other rhyming words are half-rhymes (also known as imperfect rhymes, near rhymes, or slant rhymes). These words have similar vowel sounds, or similar consonant sounds, but not both. Some of the many half-rhymes in “Church Going” are “on,” “stone,” and “organ,” and “silence” and “reverence.”
The other dominant structural device in the poem is rhetorical. “Church Going” carefully follows the structure of the meditation, beginning with a detailed description of a place, leading to an internal debate, and finally reaching a tentative conclusion. Larkin’s place, a church, is evoked in sufficient detail to let readers re-create it in their minds and imagine themselves there with the narrator. The internal debate begins in stanza 3 and continues through the beginning of stanza 6. Here the narrator raises many questions, answering none of them. The questions explore the possible significance and uses of church buildings once people no longer use them for religious worship. What will happen when their purpose has been forgotten? The questions lead inevitably to considering why the narrator himself is drawn to these places.
His conclusion, which begins halfway through
Show More

Related Documents: Essay on Analysis and Summary of Church Going

Essay on Capstone: Restaurant and Rubric

Executive Summary Description of Concept and Overview of Business Plan This is where the stuff goes. On and on and on, plus going on even some more until you have enough to make the rubric happy. Legal Structure of Business This is where the stuff goes. On and on and on, plus going on even some more until you have enough to make the rubric happy. Management Summary: Description of Management Team This is where the stuff goes. On and on and on, plus going on even some more until you have…

Words 2478 - Pages 10

How Did Ralph Waldo Emerson Impact Society

Two years later, Ralph took up the occupation of pastor of the Unitarian Second Church. Shortly after their marriage in 1829, Ellen Tucker Emerson died on February 8, 1831 (Porte, Joel). Ralph was devastated by his misfortune; he could not fathom the spiritual reason as to why she perished. In order to search for answers, Emerson fled…

Words 1220 - Pages 5

Essay Critical Book Review

Critical Book Review Healing the Wounds of Sexual Addiction Michelle Beel Liberty University Psych 307 Summary Dr. Mark Lasser’s book “Healing the Wounds of Sexual Addiction” gives insight to those who suffer from sexual addiction and to the families, friends and other people in their lives. Dr. Mark Lasser has chosen to write this book, to share with others his personal struggle and victory with sexual addiction. Dr. Lasser has written this book from a Christian view, to give other…

Words 1156 - Pages 5

Engel V. Vitale Case Summary

Two Cases Engel v. Vitale (1962) (Wilson, DiIulio & Bose 49) In New York the law requires that public schools are to open each day with the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer which the students were to recognize their need for God (uscourts.gov). The students were allowed to excuse themselves from this activity if they found it to be objectionable (uscourts.gov). An adult guardian was angry and filed a suit of law he or she was stating the argument that the law was violating the Establishment of…

Words 1039 - Pages 5

Essay about Church and Dwight

Church & Dwight: Time to Rethink the Portfolio A case report prepared for MG 495 Business Policy Spring 1 2013 3 February 2013 CHURCH & DWIGHT: TIME TO RETHINK THE PORTFOLIO I. INTRODUCTION A. Executive Summary 1. Summary statement of the problem: Church & Dwight, more commonly known by its brand name “Arm & Hammer,” has held a commanding lead in the sodium bicarbonate product market for over 160 years with virtually 99 percent of all consumer products…

Words 3635 - Pages 15

Hamlet Oct272014 Essay

Important themes Symbols Important Quotations Character Analysis Connecting to other Texts Scene 1 Horatio- a friend of Hamlet. He is model of friendship and can always be trusted to give sensible advice and a honest opinion. Sometimes he is not so much a character as a choric figure, giving necessary information to the audience. Barnardo- guard King Hamlet- Father of the prince. He is now dead and we only see his ghost. But other characters and especially Prince Hamlet, speak of his courage…

Words 1032 - Pages 5

Essay on Do Butterflies need flying lessons

4 Summary ................................................................................................................................................... 4 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................. 5 Appendix 1 - Organising Board ................................................................................................................ 6 Appendix 2 - Swot Analysis Table…

Words 1576 - Pages 7

Justification Report Example Essay

| GUTD Growth Plan |August 21 | | |2011 | |Give Us This Day Inc. (GUTD) is a 501 © 3 organization dedicated to finding individuals facing |“It is our calling and passion to help | |adverse circumstances permanent employment and social assistance.…

Words 1479 - Pages 6

The Razor's Edge Study Guide Essay

com/studyguide−razors−edge/ Copyright Information ©2000−2007 BookRags, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The following sections of this BookRags Premium Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare &Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study…

Words 23716 - Pages 95

Case Study Chick-Fil-A

and go to church if you chose. The tradition…

Words 1133 - Pages 5