A Study of Reading Habits -- Poetry Response #8

A Study of Reading Habits by Philip Larkin is surprising. There are three stanzas, all depicting a different stage of life. The first is when he is a boy. He shows himself as a smaller boy who probably tried to stay out of every one's way, but escaped into his books where he was the hero. He could beat up anyone that picked on him in the books. The second stanza depicts the next stage of his life. At this point, he thinks it's more fun to be evil than good. The characters he related to were more violent and bloodthirsty. Finally, the third stanza shows probably middle age. This is my favorite stanza because the end of it is a surprise. This stanza talks about not reading much because the speaker is depressed by books; when he reads, he identifies with the minor characters with no backbone or courage. Then he says "Get stewed: Books are a load of crap." This is the surprise. It is almost startling. I didn't see it coming the first time I read the poem. It is almost as if the speaker goes from to depressed to angry in a second. I enjoyed how Larkin was able to capture different mind sets.