Born Yesterday

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Born Yesterday

• Philip Larkin

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Learning Objectives

• AO1 respond to texts critically and
  imaginatively, select and evaluate textual detail
  to illustrate and support interpretations.
• AO2 explain how language, structure and form
  contribute to writers presentation of ideas,
  themes and settings.

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Born Yesterday

• for Sally Amis
• Tightly-folded bud,I have wished you
  somethingNone of the others wouldNot the usual
  stuffAbout being beautiful,Or running off a
  springOf innocence and love -They will all wish
  you that,And should it prove possible,Well,
  youre a lucky girl.
• But if it shouldnt, thenMay you be
  ordinaryHave, like other women,An average of
  talentsNot ugly, not good-looking,Nothing
  uncustomaryTo pull you off your balance,That,
  unworkable itself,Stops all the rest from
  working.In fact, may you be dull -If that is
  what a skilled,Vigilant, flexible,Unemphasised,
  enthralledCatching of happiness is called.

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Questions, questions
Who is the narrator of the poem? What is the
relationship in the poem?
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Born Yesterday

• for Sally Amis
• Tightly-folded bud,I have wished you
  somethingNone of the others wouldNot the usual
  stuffAbout being beautiful,Or running off a
  springOf innocence and love -They will all wish
  you that,And should it prove possible,Well,
  youre a lucky girl.

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• But if it shouldnt, thenMay you be
  ordinaryHave, like other women,An average of
  talentsNot ugly, not good-looking,Nothing
  uncustomaryTo pull you off your balance,That,
  unworkable itself,Stops all the rest from
  working.

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• In fact, may you be dull -If that is what a
  skilled,Vigilant, flexible,Unemphasised,
  enthralledCatching of happiness is called.