Life, “A linear-Time Dimension” in Human Time: An Overview of Philip Larkin’s Poetry 

By : Rajamouly Katta

Page No: 30-39

Abstract
According to Larkin, life is a texture in “a linear-time dimension”. It is a hard journey through time in which “happiness is too going” (TLD, 44). It is the illusion of illusions as time rules life to turn it into a supreme illusion. All time - present, past, and future – serves as a three-fold illusion and becomes a source for disappointments in life. Mortality and futility are the inevitable facts of life. The future, which is unpromising, acts as a harbinger of misfortunes including death, the harshest fact of life. The present is seen with a series of failures and frustrations in life on the collapse of castles built in the air. The past is past to serve as a reminder of what we ought to have been. Life after all is in thrall to time’s constant flux.

Author
Prof. Dr Rajamouly Katta, Author, Writer, Editor, Novelist, Poet. Professor & Head Dept. of English, Ganapathy Engineering College, Warangal, Telangana.
 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32381/POET.2026.39.02.4