British poet Philip Larkin wrote "Money" during the aftermath of the 1973 financial crash, which caused massive inflation and increased consumer borrowing in the form of credit cards and loans. The poem critiques how money effectively rules the world, encouraging people to think—and spend—in a shallow, materialistic way. There's no point in saving money, either, the speaker laments, because it's useless once you're dead. No matter what, money calls the tune, leaving people to scramble for whatever happiness they can find in an "intensely sad" system.

• Read the full text of “Money”

• “Money” Summary

• “Money” Themes

  • 

    Money, Consumerism, and Unhappiness

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-16

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

  • Lines 1-4

    Quarterly, is it, ...
    ... a few cheques.'

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

    So I look ...
    ... do with life

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-12

    —In fact, they've ...
    ... than a shave.

    

    

    

    

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  • Line 13

    I listen to money singing.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-16

    It's like looking ...
    ... is intensely sad.

    

    

    

    

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• “Money” Symbols

  • 

    Money

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-4: “Quarterly, is it, money reproaches me: /     'Why do you let me lie here wastefully? / I am all you never had of goods and sex. /     You could get them still by writing a few cheques.'”
    • Lines 7-8: “By now they've a second house and car and wife: /     Clearly money has something to do with life”
    • Line 13: “I listen to money singing.”

• “Money” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Analogy

    

    

    

    

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    Where analogy appears in the poem:

    • Lines 9-12: “—In fact, they've a lot in common, if you enquire: /     You can't put off being young until you retire, / And however you bank your screw, the money you save /     Won't in the end buy you more than a shave.”

  • Personification

    

    

    

    

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    Where personification appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-4: “Quarterly, is it, money reproaches me: /     'Why do you let me lie here wastefully? / I am all you never had of goods and sex. /     You could get them still by writing a few cheques.'”
    • Line 13: “I listen to money singing.”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 13-16: “It's like looking down /     From long french windows at a provincial town,    / The slums, the canal, the churches ornate and mad /     In the evening sun.”

  • Understatement

    

    

    

    

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    Where understatement appears in the poem:

    • Line 8: “Clearly money has something to do with life”

• “Money” 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.

  • Reproaches
  • Quarterly
  • Goods
  • However you bank your screw
  • Shave
  • Provincial town
  • French windows
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “Quarterly, is it, money reproaches me:”)

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

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Money” Speaker

• “Money” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Money”

• More “Money” Resources

  • External Resources

    • The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a reading of "Money."

    • Larkin on the South Bank Show — Watch a 1981 TV program about the poet.

    • Larkin at the British Library — Browse the resources of the Philip Larkin Collection at the British Library. 

    • An Interview with the Poet — Watch poet John Betjeman interview Philip Larkin in 1964.  

    • A Biography of the Poet — Learn more about Larkin's life and work, courtesy of the Poetry Foundation.  

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Philip Larkin

    • Afternoons

    • An Arundel Tomb

    • A Study of Reading Habits

    • Church Going

    • Coming

    • Home Is So Sad

    • MCMXIV

    • Mr Bleaney

    • Next, Please

    • Poetry of Departures

    • Talking in Bed

    • The Trees

    • The Whitsun Weddings

    • This Be The Verse

    • Water

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