Philip Larkin - Annus Mirabilis

Sexual intercourse began
In nineteen sixty-three
(which was rather late for me) -
Between the end of the "Chatterley" ban
And the Beatles' first LP.

Up to then there'd only been
A sort of bargaining,
A wrangle for the ring,
A shame that started at sixteen
And spread to everything.

Then all at once the quarrel sank:
Everyone felt the same,
And every life became
A brilliant breaking of the bank,
A quite unlosable game.

So life was never better than
In nineteen sixty-three
(Though just too late for me) -
Between the end of the "Chatterley" ban
And the Beatles' first LP.


Notes:
- The title of the poem is latin for "year of wonder" however without translation the title may suggest sexual misery.

- This poem contains many allusions to both extrinsically and intrinsically promiscuous art. The first is Lady Chatterley's Lover which was the first book to perpetuially use the word fuck and descirbe intimate sexual scenes. It therefore was banned up until the late 60's expressing how prohibiton of material containing sexual references led to a youth whom were forced to suppress sexual emotion or indeed go underground with it. The second is "The Beatles first LP" which contains questionable lyrics "Please Please Me" which could connote a plea for oral sex. This questionability is further portrayed in how there are 2 distinct ways of reading the poem, either inplicitly and thus sexually or literally and thus more wholesome. This implicit nature shows how the poem is somewhat of a puzzle: just as sex for such a youth would have been.

- The second stanza speaks of life previously "a wrangle for a ring" portraying the social rule of no sex before marriage and presents how sex before marriage should be cast in "A shame that started at 16". As previously detailed this stanza too has an implicit reading with "A sort of bargaining" even going as far as to suggest the buying and selling of prostitution. There appears to be a form of excitement involved with this "bargaining" and "wrangle". One could also be as crude to note how the first word in the stanza is "up" ...etcetc.

- The third stanza brings with it a definite change in tone, further displayed by the word "sank". There appears a lull "a quite unlosable game" suggesting that with this sexual revolution displayed in the 2nd stanza came a peak (no doubt the height of sexual excitement) and then a plummet into post-coital calm or even depression as sex loses all the challenges displayed in the previous stanza. Women portrated to succomb "a brilliant breaking of the bank" (spreading of legs?). This quotation could also refer to a sort of moral bankrupcy that comes with such a revolution, moving away from the wholesome world of the 50's. The idea that "everyone felt the same" connotes some form of emotional numbing and sexual paralysis.

- Structurally the poem maintains a strict ABBAB pattern which is in complete contrast to the content. Again Larkin using structure as a polite way of wrapping lude content.