La’Coriona Walker
Ms. Lacano
AP Lit- 4
26 September 2016
“A Study
of Reading Habits” By Philip Larkin
In the poem “A study of Reading Habits” by Phillip Larkin
the speaker goes on to show readers his way of reading and exploring books. He takes
reading to a whole new level by applying it to himself as well. He’s so caught
up in doing so that it eventually doesn’t work out for him anymore. What I really
like about this poem is how someone can take reading into a deeper meaning
taking that I do so myself. “A Study of Reading Habits” means a lot to me because
I can relate to it in many ways. The speaker goes on to say: “When getting my
nose in a book/ cured most things short of school/ it was worth ruining my eyes” (1-3).
For one the lines can be related to, a lot of people drown out
things by reading I happen to be one of them, reading takes me to a world of my
own and I felt as of the speaker was trying to imply that. Not only that but
also there began to be a shift in the poem that changes the mood that I’ve
noticed after reading it a few more times. The speaker goes from being this
person that wanted to be so deeply involved in books to not even wanting to be
bothered with them anymore. I feel as of Larkin knew exactly what he was doing
when writing this poem, he wanted to start you off with what appears to be someone
explaining habits that they’ve picked up to not caring about it anymore. It’s almost
like the tone goes from eagerness too nonchalant, the speaker doesn’t have that
same feel for reading like they’ve used to. I really do love how Larkin kinds
of mislead you with the title alone here you have “A Study of Reading Habits”
when in reality it’s someone transitioning with reading. This poem just shows
that sometimes making a habit out of something may eventually die down.
I've always enjoyed this poem, yet found it somewhat sad at the same time. I hope to never feel as the speaker does in the last stanza.
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