What connections have you found between the ways in which Larkin and Abse write about religion in their poems? In your response you must include detailed critical discussion of at least two of Larkin’s poems.

Example Introduction: In his poetry, Philip Larkin is typically cynical of religion, displayed particularly in ‘Water’ and ‘Faith Healing’. As a strict atheist, Larkin consistently devalues and demeans religion, and satirises those who adhere to it. In contrast, Dannie Abse was brought up a Jew, and is thus fairly positive about religion, conveyed in ‘Red Balloon’ and ‘Quests’. Example Paragraph: Furthermore, Abse indicates his pride in his religion through the poem ‘Red Balloon’. This is indicated in the phrase, ‘some lunged, some clawed at my balloon, but still it would not burst.’ The violent verbs ‘lunged’ and ‘clawed’ have animalistic connotations, as though the boys are desperate to disregard his faith. An alternative reading, and one that the reader would most probably find more likely, is that the ‘boys’ aren’t simply children, but rather are representative of society as a whole at the time, as the red balloon represents religion. The fronted conjunction ‘but’ before the phrase ‘but still it would not burst’ implies that although his religion is tarnished, it can never quite be destroyed. The Jews as a nation are notoriously stubborn and resistant; despite the suffering they’ve endured over hundreds of years, they remain. Abse clearly cherishes and values his religion, implied through his stubborn resistance of the torment he suffers.