The British poet Philip Larkin published "Coming" in his 1955 book The Less Deceived. The poem's speaker describes what it's like to watch spring slowly reawaken the surrounding world, as a small songbird stirs in an empty garden and sunlight washes over houses. The poem maintains a melancholy tone throughout, however, especially as the speaker compares the happiness of the coming spring to the superficial joy a child might feel after misinterpreting the forced laughter of two adults who have just finished arguing. This comparison implies that the joys of spring—with all its symbolic connotations of renewal and rebirth—are shallower and less meaningful than people may want to believe.

• Read the full text of “Coming”

• “Coming” Summary

• “Coming” Themes

  • 

    Spring, Rebirth, and False Hope

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-19

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Coming”

  • Lines 1-4

    On longer evenings, ...
    ... Foreheads of houses.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-7

    A thrush sings, ...
    ... deep bare garden,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 8-9

    Its fresh-peeled voice ...
    ... Astonishing the brickwork.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 10-13

    It will be ...
    ... a forgotten boredom,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 14-19

    Feel like a ...
    ... to be happy.

    

    

    

    

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• “Coming” Symbols

  • 

    The Thrush and the Garden

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 5-9: “A thrush sings, / Laurel-surrounded / In the deep bare garden, / Its fresh-peeled voice / Astonishing the brickwork.”

• “Coming” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “longer”
    • Line 2: “Light, chill,” “yellow”
    • Line 4: “Foreheads,” “houses”
    • Line 5: “thrush sings”
    • Line 6: “Laurel-surrounded”
    • Line 7: “deep bare garden”
    • Line 8: “fresh-peeled voice”
    • Line 9: “Astonishing”
    • Line 10: “spring soon”
    • Line 11: “spring soon”
    • Line 12: “childhood”
    • Line 13: “forgotten boredom”
    • Line 14: “Feel like,” “child”
    • Line 15: “on,” “scene”
    • Line 16: “adult reconciling”
    • Line 17: “And can understand nothing”
    • Line 18: “unusual”
    • Line 19: “starts to”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-4: “Light, chill and yellow, / Bathes the serene / Foreheads of houses.”
    • Line 5: “A thrush sings,”
    • Lines 8-9: “Its fresh-peeled voice / Astonishing the brickwork.”

  • Sibilance

    

    

    

    

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    Where sibilance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “evenings”
    • Line 3: “Bathes,” “serene”
    • Line 4: “Foreheads,” “houses”
    • Line 5: “thrush sings”
    • Line 6: “surrounded”
    • Line 8: “Its fresh,” “voice”
    • Line 9: “Astonishing”
    • Line 10: “spring soon”
    • Line 11: “spring soon”

  • Personification

    

    

    

    

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    Where personification appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-4: “Light, chill and yellow, / Bathes the serene / Foreheads of houses.”
    • Line 9: “Astonishing the brickwork.”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Lines 10-11: “It will be spring soon, / It will be spring soon –”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “On longer”
    • Line 10: “It will,” “spring”
    • Line 11: “It will,” “spring”
    • Line 12: “I,” “childhood”
    • Line 14: “like,” “child”
    • Line 16: “reconciling”
    • Line 17: “And can understand nothing”
    • Line 19: “be happy”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 12-19: “And I, whose childhood / Is a forgotten boredom, / Feel like a child / Who comes on a scene / Of adult reconciling, / And can understand nothing / But the unusual laughter, / And starts to be happy.”

• “Coming” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Bathes
  • Thrush
  • Laurel
  • Astonishing
  • Brickwork
  • Reconciling
  • (Location in poem: Lines 3-4: “Bathes the serene / Foreheads of houses.”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Coming”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Coming” Speaker

• “Coming” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Coming”

• More “Coming” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Larkin's Life — Learn more about Philip Larkin through this overview of his life and work.

    • The Philip Larkin Society — Check out all things Larkin on the Philip Larkin Society's website.

    • The Paris Review Interview — Read Larkin's 1982 interview as part of the magazine's "The Art of Poetry" series.

    • The Cynical Poet — If you can't get enough of Larkin's specific brand of sadness and cynicism, check out the poem "Home is so Sad," which, like "Coming," takes something seemingly happy and turns it into something sad. 

    • Larkin's Portrait — Take a look at Larkin's likeness, rendered in both paintings and photograph, in the National Portrait Gallery's six portraits of the poet himself. 

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Philip Larkin

    • Afternoons

    • An Arundel Tomb

    • A Study of Reading Habits

    • Church Going

    • Home Is So Sad

    • MCMXIV

    • Money

    • Mr Bleaney

    • Next, Please

    • Poetry of Departures

    • Talking in Bed

    • The Trees

    • The Whitsun Weddings

    • This Be The Verse

    • Water

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