RK Singh and Philip Larkin: Some Similarities by Dr Rajamouly Katta
Das Literarisch: Vol 9, Issue I (January – June 2026)
Das Literarisch
Vol. 8, Issue II (July - December 2025)
Print ISSN: 2454 – 4647
RK Singh and Philip Larkin: Some Similarities
Dr. Rajamouly Katta
Professor and Head, Department of English (S.H.),
Ganapathy Engineering College, Warangal, Telangana, India
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22710372
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Abstract
RK Singh, a contemporary Indian English poet and Philp Larkin, a post-war British
Movement poet, deal with similar themes in their respective poetic works. They are well known
poets for a kaleidoscopic variety of themes. Both delineate themes underlying life in the strict
governance of time. They deal with time and its incessant motion of time, life, that is enthralled
to time in its constant flow, love, life, the process of ageing, nature, contemporaneity, and so
on as a sign of similarities in the delineation of themes. Time moves in its endless motion,
bringing about changes in the stages of life on one hand and wants are shattered in the ceaseless
motion of time on the other. The past is past. They want to forget the past. There are clashes
between what man wants and what happens to him as time is the disruptive force and
destructive element of life. Dreams fade away to nothingness as time proves the fact that life
is a series of missed opportunities to teach hard realities and harsh facts. These are themes
portrayed by them in their respective poetic works reflecting similarities and affinities between
them. There are a few dissimilarities between them. RK Singh believes in God and His love
towards devotees. He is in strict adherence to religion. He deals with man as an eternal beggar,
praying to God asking for help. Larkin does not believe in God from his agnostic background.
For him church is not a place for prayers.
RK Singh carves a niche for himself by means of unique style, distinctive images and
artistic excellence in dealing with the themes underlying life. Hence, he occupies a significant
place in the domain of modern Indian English poetry by virtue of his prolific contribution with
kaleidoscopic thematic variety to the literary firmament like Larkin.
Key Words: R. K. Singh, Philip Larkin, Time, Life, Ageing, Comparative Poetry
Every poet lets readers listen to the echo of his heartthrobs for heart-responses to his
poetry. He makes readers’ minds and hearts travel along with them by participating in the poetic
scene he realistically and photographically portrays. He shares his profound feelings and
emotions with readers as the sharing of feelings and emotions with them is the prime and
pristine characteristic of poetry. He expresses them in his poetry through thematic treasures
underlying life: time and its powers, life and its experiences, the stages of life, love, nature and
so on in general and contemporary relevance in particular. Thematic variety as the focus and
fulcrum of poetry awakens and enlightens readers like the fragrance of flowers to sweeten the
atmosphere. Ram Krishna Singh (R.K. Singh) as a poet of commitment achieves the goal of
portraying thematic treasures in his poetry collections like Knocking Vistas and Other Poems,
Leaves of Silence: Poems and Micro poems, and Drifty Silence and She. I would like to
survey his poetry from the point of view of thematic concerns.
The birds of a feather flock together in the way the poets with the same bent of mind
portray similar themes in their poetic works. This happens in case of RK Singh who
significantly deals with a kaleidoscopic variety of themes in his writings like those of Philip
Larkin, the greatest post-war British poet of the Movement. Both delineate themes underlying
life in the strict governance of time in poetry. They strongly believe that time in its incessant
motion brings about inevitable changes in man’s life and its stages: childhood, youth, manhood,
old age, decrepit old age that ultimately culminates in inevitable death. They refer to the past,
memories of the past and responses to the past. They at the same time focus on the ills and
evils, flippancies and profligacy of society they live in as poets of social consciousness.
RK Singh delineates time, love, nature, life, the process of ageing and so on in the reign
of time. In life, man starts losing the vigor and power of robust youth in old age. He feels and
experiences the inevitable changes as the moments of life. They haunt him as his clinging
memories. He cherishes them though he wants to forget them when they disappoint and hurt
him.
There are a few dissimilarities between the two poets. RK Singh in contrast with Larkin
treats man as ‘an eternal beggar always asking for help’. His poem, ‘An Eternal Beggar’,
reveals the fact that he believes in God and His love for his devotees. He expresses man’s faith
that God fulfils his desires in contrast with Larkin. From his agnostic background as he does
not believe in God and as the fact stated in the poem, ‘Church Going’. For him, church is visited
not for offering prayers,
A serious house on serious earth it is
‘Church Going’ CP, 98
Man prays to God for success. He always begs God in everything. He has firm belief that God will come to his rescue in all respects. The poet presents the view,
Eternal beggar:
always asking God for help
in everything from
meeting to love-making and
managing daily affairs.
‘Beggar,’ Leaves of Silence, 67
The poet further says man offers prayers to God that He is meant for blessing him with
happy and satisfied life. He wants to fulfil his desires,
for survival God
a convenient tool:
ritual faith hope
prayers in apathy
fulfillment of desires
‘Beggar’, Leaves of Silence, 67
Larkin from his agnostic background treats time as an annihilating force. Here he differs
from RK Singh as he does not believe in God and His Governance. But as per the Gita, Indian
philosophy, time is God with divine powers.
For RK Singh, time is a destructive force and disruptive element in the way Larkin
believes. The concept is undercurrent in their poetry. Dreams of life are shattered in time’s
annihilating forces. Sometimes dreams in life fade away to nothingness,
time degenerates
all dreams or vile
I am I forever
in chain of salvation
‘In Chain’, Leaves of Silence, 15
The poet finds a conflict between the mind and the soul; man’s desires and happenings
to teach hard realities in life. He states the fact that life is a series of missed opportunities,
aren’t I torn between
the mysterious inside
and fecundity dreams---
tempting moments and memories
run into mirror of silence
‘Talisman’, Leaves of Silence, 18
As a poet and man, RK Singh reflects Larkin’s view of life with a clash between what
we want and what happens in our lives with a series of missed opportunities to teach hard
realities…,
Truly, though our element is time
We are not suited to long perspectives
Open at each instant of our lives
They link us to our losses.
‘Reference Back’, Collected Poems (C.P.)106
Like Larkin, RK Singh expresses the view about time and the changes it brings about
in man’s life against wish,
missed chances add up
to the lost path though corners
overlooked for fear
of diminished abundance
‘Dream Ripples’ Leaves of Silence, 38
RK Singh feels that life is not as we always wish to enjoy it. Dreams rising in life are
relentlessly shattered in the passage of time like bubbles to rise and burst instantly in a flowing
stream. He finds life boring. Therefore, he wants to escape from hard realities of life, like
Larkin:
Life is first boredom and then fear
Whether or not we use it, it goes
And leaves what something hidden from us chose
And age and then only the end of age,
‘Dockery and Son’ The Whitsun Weddings, 38
For RK Singh, life is full of tensions, tears and worries. He wants to escape from all those to be free from them for a stress-free life,
escape from tension,
fear harassment worries
uncertainties and
host of issues challenging
self ego and confidence
‘Beggar’ Leaves of Silence, 67
As a poet and man, RK Singh is open and confessional, and the concept reflects and echoes from his poetry. He teaches his readers the hard realities of life from which he wants to escape for peaceful and quiet life.
Time is necessarily man’s element. Time moves ceaselessly and leads life from childhood to youth, middled age, old age and ultimately to culminate in death. Larkin similarly expresses the sojourn of transient life,
Hours giving evidence
Or birth, advance
On death equally slowly.
‘Nothing to Be Said’ CP,138
In time’s constant flow, life is a journey. Life traverses through the stages. The stages that come after youth will be different. Waning in physical powers is evident in old age and decrepit old age. The parts of the body grow weaker when life leads to old age. RK Singh admits that marital intimacy and physical union are not possible in aging years. The partners lack interest in youthful activities, causing physical and emotional distance between them. He and his wife sleep in separate rooms due to downfall in the persistent longing of sex, ‘de-sexualization imperative’ on their part. He presents his feelings like Kamala Das in her confessional poetry. He makes his feelings open. His wife is found
… withdrawn to mobile listening to
old songs on YouTube not answering
my distress-call sleeping or awake.
‘Sleep Divorce’, Leaves of Silence, 41
Man’s life journey is from birth to death. Broadly speaking, it is from womb to tomb. Birth and death are the realities, but they are the oblivions of life as they are not felt and known as stages by man, but he knows that death is an inevitable fact of life.
All know that they are going to die
Not yet, perhaps not there, but in the end
And somewhere like this. Thais is what it means
‘The Building’, CP,191
RK Singh refers to childhood like Larkin. He is unmindful of the ‘facts without motives in the stage,’
unmindful---
facts without motives
her school stories
‘Haiku’, Leaves of Silence, 41
Larkin views about childhood without attachment and sentiment. He says that he has completely forgotten about it,
Where you have “your roots?
No, only where my childhood was unspent;
“I Remember I Remember’ The Less Deceived (TLD)-38
Though RK Singh touches the other stages of life in his poems but delineates old age in a realistic way. He presents the stage of old age in his poem, ‘Old Files’ in the way Larkin does in his poem, ‘Old Fools’. He feels it burdensome on his part. He wants to live according to his will and wish. He wishes to have rest. He believes the rest of life and life are taken care of by time,
let me live life through my self
doing nothing, thinking nothing
just sitting silently and watching
time takes care of the rest and life too
‘Old Files’, Poetcrit, 112
For RK Sigh, love is to offer lovers solace, sleep and peace. The lovers wish to live happily in their union. The love never wishes his separation from his beloved. As a couple the husband loves his better-half’s gentle touch as a sign of conjugal love. The poet expresses the deep love of lovers,
psychic echo--
we long for love
at the same hour
‘Haiku’, Leaves of Silence, 79
missing
her gentle touch--
sleep divorce
‘Haiku’, Leaves of Silence, 80
voice fragments
whisper through silence--
solitude
‘Haiku’, Leaves of Silence, 82
beyond sight
waiting for your eyes
truth current
‘Haiku’ , Poetcrit, 117
RK Singh loves nature and firmly believes in it to bestow on him the blessed feeling. The earth is rich with beauties in bounties for man,
to enjoy wondrous
bounties on the earth
now or life to come
hereafter with the blest as
ordained for the satisfied
‘ Beggar’, Leaves of Silence, 67
Larkin, like RK Singh, strongly concurs with time and its devastating powers to bring about changes in life in its reign. He treats time as ‘something’ that is powerful surely to conquer life,
Something is pushing them
To the side of their lives.
The Whitsun Weddings, 44
‘Something’ signifies time. Man accepts time’s role on man’s life. Larkin concurs with the concept of time and its ceaseless flux and its invincible power to conquer life, leaving it nothingness,
Days are where we live
They come and wake us
Time and time over
‘Days’ , CP, 67
Time in its inexorable flow, everything is degenerated and destroyed against wish. RK Singh states that dreams risen in mind are shattered in the realm of facts in time’s unstoppable motion,
time degenerates
all dreams pious and vile
I am I forever
in chain for salvation
‘In Chain’, Leaves of Silence, 15
R.K. Singh treats the past without attachment and sentiment. He wants to erase the memories and turns his mind into a clean slate. So, they have no space for them in mind. He ironically expresses the view,
I burn my years and erase
memories that could not be stacked
against the wall of a broken home
‘Old Files’, Leaves of Silence, 50
aren’t I torn between
the mysterious inside
and fecundity of dreams --
tempting moments and memories
run into mirror of silence
‘Talisman’, Leaves of Silence , 18
For the poet the past is past. He is not interested in the past. He has nothing to do with the past. He wants to forget his past. He does not want to have attachment to the past. Larkin opines in a similar way that the past is ‘a forgotten boredom’,
And I childhood is a forgotten boredom
Feel like a child
Who comes on a scene
And understand nothing
But unusual laughter
And stares to be happy
‘Coming’, The Less Deceived,17
Only where my childhood was unspent,
‘I Remember, I Remember’, The Less Deceived,38
Like Larkin, RK Singh expresses a similar view in his poetry. He does not want the hostage to the past that past,
I fracture the spine
of my diaries and lament
life unlived in years
‘Life Unlived’, Leaves of Silence, 26
I can’t be a hostage to the past
nobody would buy
the smoke is momentary
the heat hurts more
‘Old Files’, Leaves of Silence, 50
Larkin deals with death in the poem ‘Old Fools’. Life is primarily in time’s reign slow dying as death is an inevitable fact of life. It is the stage of oblivion,
At death you break up: the bits that were you
Start speeding away from each forever
With no one to see. It is only oblivion, true
‘The Old Fools’, CP, 196
In time’s incessant flow, old age ultimately culminates in death like leaves falling in the season of Fall as fall or death is inevitable to put an end to life,
I am too old to hold out long
the fall is certain
and the burden too much
‘Old Files’ Leaves of Silence, 50
words shape no sense
and mind spins helplessness
in cold quietude
bones creak in aging cage
await final decay
‘Gelid Morning’, Leaves of Silence, 40
RK Singh uses the image of cage for the body that is to perish and vanish after the end of life. The final decay is death, the inescapable stage and the ultimate reality of life.
Larkin too feels that fall is certain. He deals with the concept of death as inevitable element to put an end to life against wish.
All know that they are going to die
‘The Building’, High Windows, 24
Most things may not happen: this one will
‘Aubade’ , CP, 208
Nature is the general feature of every poet. RK Singh feels that the beauty of the earth is enjoyed when there is no sunlight. No birds sing and no pleasure prevails:
no birds sing
in the sunless sky:
mourning trees
‘Haiku’, Leaves of Silence, 84
sunset
fallen flowers
children’s holiday
‘Haiku’, Poetcrit, 115
two bulbuls
between hibiscus
weaving nest
‘Haiku’, Leaves of Silence, 77
RK Singh criticizes the unwelcome trends and evil practices in the current society. He hates caste variation and other divisions, spoiling the unity of human beings. As a poet of social consciousness, he is bound to criticize its follies and profligacy,
waiting too long:
café in the morning
park in the evening
‘Haiku’, Poetcrit, 115
RK Singh delineates demo‘no’cracy, I coined for the democracy of demons, the antidemocratic activities, antiracism, communal disharmony, extremism and so on. He is unhappy with the system of election and attitude of the elected leaders who are for their vested interests and selfish goals not for the people forever,
voting the prophets
attired differently
aspiring the same throne
proclaiming the same faith
‘General Election’, Leaves of Silence, 23
Society today is against the will and wish of wise people as they are happy with false customs and evil practices in society. Some say that all these are the signs of modernity and style of ultra-modernity. He touches social relevance apart from general themes to stand out from others as a poet par excellence.
A poet without social consciousness is not a poet. He vehemently criticizes society in general and the leaders. He befittingly calls them ‘false prophets’ and ascribes every evil especially racism and casteism to the leaders. What we see in them hypocrisy the simple attire. The poem ‘New Racism’ is a fine example to criticize the stinking society. Like the poem by Kamala Das, ‘Fancy-dress Show’. God’s ways are to be followed but they are not as the sign of their disobedience,
god too is annoyed
to see design gaps in
bipeds delivered:
their genitals stink with
dumb head and bruised grapefruits
‘New Racism’, Leaves of Silence, 72
RK Singh and Larkin deal with time and its incessant motion of time, life that is enthralled to time, love, nature, contemporaneity, and so on as a sign of similarities in the delineation of themes in their respective poetic works. He carves a niche for himself by means of unique style, distinctive images and artistic excellence. As a poet and critic RK Singh is as great as Philip Larkin in dealing with the themes underlying life. Hence, he occupies a significant place in the domain of modern English poetry by virtue of his prolific contribution with kaleidoscopic thematic variety to the literary firmament.
Works Cited
Singh, R.K. Leaves of Silence, New Delhi, Authors Press, 2025
-------- . Drifty Silence and She, Capri Leone (ME), Edizioni Universum, 2025
-------- . Knocking Vistas and Other Poems, New Delhi, Authors Press, 2024
Larkin, Philip. Collected Poems (C.P.), London, The Marvel Press, 1988
--------, The Less Deceived (TLD), London, Marval Press, 1955
--------, The Whitsun Weddings (TWW), London, Faber & Faber, 1964
--------, High Windows (HW), Londer, Faber & Faber, 1
posted by Ram Krishna Singh at 10:59 PM
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