Angry Young Men
The angry young men were a group of mostly working and middle class British play writers and novelists who became conspicuous in the 1950s. The group's leading members were John Osborne and Kingsley Amis. The phrase "angry young men" was originally taken to promote John Osborne's 1956 play Look Back in Anger. John Osborne’s play, Look Back in Anger was the monumental literary work that influenced the concept of the Angry Young Man. Osborne wrote the play to express what it felt like to live in England during the 1950s. The main issues that Angry Young Men had were impatience with the status quo, refusal to be co-opted by a bankrupt society, and instinctive solidarity with the lower classes. Their political views were usually seen as sometimes anarchistic, and they described different kinds of social alienation. They also often expressed their critical views on society as a whole,
criticizing certain behaviors or groups in different ways.
criticizing certain behaviors or groups in different ways.
Philip Larkin was a poet who went to considerable lengths to deliberately present himself as a man of the people and a poet of the ordinary man, making the mundane poetic and finding significance in the commonplace. After studying at Oxford, he went to reside in a seris of small towns and cities. Successful as a deep poet but not as successful in life.
Poem: Toads
By: Philip Larkin
http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/philip-larkin/toads/
Poem Summary:
The poem Toads by Philip Larkin is about being stuck in a plain life. He usually writes his poems straight to the point and emotionless. This is what he did with this poem in some ways. He is saying how he doesn't want to be stuck working all his life. That if you are used to work for so long you will continue to use up your life on work.
Poem: Toads
By: Philip Larkin
http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/philip-larkin/toads/
Poem Summary:
The poem Toads by Philip Larkin is about being stuck in a plain life. He usually writes his poems straight to the point and emotionless. This is what he did with this poem in some ways. He is saying how he doesn't want to be stuck working all his life. That if you are used to work for so long you will continue to use up your life on work.
Literary Elements
In this poem, the toad is used as a metaphor for something ugly, unwanted, or plain. This toad is in religious terms like the devil and is not really an animal. Also, in the poem there is some alliteration used when it says "Lecturers, lispers, Losers, loblolly-men, louts-". This is an example of alliteration because the first letter is being constantly repeated back to back with more than one word.