An analytical presentation about Philip Larkin's poem 'Faith Healing'.

1. Faith Healing
The poem describes a faith healer in action, healing a large
amount of women at one time, meaning that this “healing” is
rushed. He doesn’t take the time to do the job properly; rather he
“heals” as many people as possible, making the procedure almost
clinical, giving each woman no longer than 20 seconds. “Stewards
tirelessly persuade them onwards”. The poem explores the
absence of love and the desire to have something to believe in.

2. As with most of his poems Larkin is critical of the faith healer. His description of the
man seems false and plastic. The healer is patronising, like he believes that he has the
power of god, therefore making him more important. He’s extremely aware of his own
righteousness. The healer is, in Larkin’s poems, your “typical” man. He’s above
everyone around him and he knows it.
Each woman is strongly affected by the experience; they are now able to experience
things that they previously couldn’t. The women aren’t seeking perfection, just
improvement. They wished to be loved, be respected so they may achieve their
dreams, no matter how small. This is supported by the last stanza where it describes
their reaction to the healing, they believed it was the “the difference they could
make”. Although it never actually describes the women as being healed it does show
the relief they feel, their compressed emotions being expressed. The women are
looking for something to ease the pain, no matter the cost, or what they are conned
into believing. The absence of love and happiness is made up for when they find
religion.
Analysis

3. Larkin’s Techniques
Some interesting things to write down…
“Upright in rimless glasses, silver hair” – This creates the idea of an innocent old man,
who women would feel sorry for and would think he wouldn’t do anything wrong or
lie to them, making them believe his words more.
“Within whose warm spring rain of loving care” – This adds to the old man’s
appearance, giving comfort to the women. It shows the way Larkin sees women –
easily manipulated into believing that everything is okay-metaphor
“Their thick tongues blort” – Blort is a neologism – a made up word. This represents
how Larkin doesn’t believe in the idea of faith healing.
“Their eyes squeeze grief” – This shows sympathy towards the women, who are forced
to hide their emotions but are given away through their eyes.
“The rigid landscape weeps” – This is anthropomorphic – it gives nature and emotion.
It’s like the landscape is crying because of how gullible these women are.

4. Women
Similar in some ways to ‘Love Songs in Age’, this
poem is about women, though it describes a
group of women rather than focusing on the
particular one in ‘Love Songs’. Nevertheless, like
many of Larkin’s poems, it’s based on a real
event and features a ‘fake’ evangelist,
suggesting that women are taken in easily by
untrue things and just as in ‘Love Songs in Age’,
they are left with little to show for their belief.

5. Age
The theme of age is consistent in Larkin’s
poems. ‘Silver hair’ implies age and the elderly,
essentially meaning that death is on the horizon.
We see the theme of death in poems such as
Ambulances, Toads and Dockery and Son.

6. Misogynistic attitude
Larkin describes them as “Moustached in flowered
frocks”, giving a sense of their ugliness. This indicates the
misogynistic attitude Larkin had of women because the
individuals appear unattractive and manly. This theme is
also presented in ‘Afternoons’ where the role of women
is insignificant, unlike the male. Likewise, Larkin calls the
women who attend the wedding in The Whitsun
Weddings ‘loud’ and ‘fat’ which clearly shows gender
stereotyping and a strong dislike against females. Larkin
later describes them as a ‘kind of dumb and idiot child’
which suggests females are vulnerable and easily led,
essentially meaning they have no common sense.

7. Religion
On a similar theme to Water, Faith Healing is
about the institution of religion and how it has
morphed into a construct used to exploit the
vulnerable. Larkin makes more of a judgment in
this poem than in Water, suggesting that he
understands why people would be religious but
thinks that sometimes people can take it too far.

8. Love
"Saying dear child, and all time has disproved"-
the reality is that love is disappointing and
untrue. We rely on love and faith healings to
solve our problems when we ourselves cannot.
This idea is also shown in ‘Talking in Bed’ where
we are shown the reality of relationships and
love, it’s an illusion and unfulfilling.