Written in 1955 and published in the 1964 volume The Whitsun Weddings, Philip Larkin's "Mr Bleaney" deals with loneliness, deprivation, and the fear of wasting one's life. The speaker rents a dingy room and learns that the previous tenant, Mr. Bleaney, lived there for many years, seemingly trapped in a solitary, dull existence. Having taken Bleaney's place, the speaker worries that he'll meet the same fate—and that the mediocre living conditions he's settled for reflect his own Bleaney-like mediocrity. Ultimately, the poem plays with the idea that "how we live measures our own nature": that we end up with the home and life we deserve, even if it's not much of a home or life.

• Read the full text of “Mr Bleaney”

• “Mr Bleaney” Summary

• “Mr Bleaney” Themes

  • 

    The Dangers of Mediocrity

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-28

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Mr Bleaney”

  • Lines 1-3

    ‘This was Mr ...
    ... They moved him.’

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 3-8

    Flowered curtains, thin ...
    ... bulb, no hook

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 8-10

    Bed, upright chair, ...
    ... ‘I’ll take it.’

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 10-14

    So it happens ...
    ... on to buy.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 15-17

    I know his ...
    ... four aways —

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 18-20

    Likewise their yearly ...
    ... house in Stoke.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 21-24

    But if he ...
    ... off the dread

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 25-28

    That how we ...
    ... I don’t know.

    

    

    

    

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• “Mr Bleaney” Symbols

  • 

    Garden

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 5-7: “Whose window shows a strip of building land, / Tussocky, littered. ‘Mr Bleaney took / My bit of garden properly in hand.’”
  • 

    Bed

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 10-11: “So it happens that I lie / Where Mr Bleaney lay”
    • Lines 22-23: “lay on the fusty bed / Telling himself that this was home”

• “Mr Bleaney” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Irony

    

    

    

    

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    Where irony appears in the poem:

    • Lines 5-7: “Whose window shows a strip of building land, / Tussocky, littered. ‘Mr Bleaney took / My bit of garden properly in hand.’”
    • Lines 8-10: “Bed, upright chair, sixty-watt bulb, no hook / Behind the door, no room for books or bags — / ‘I’ll take it.’”
    • Line 23: “Telling himself that this was home”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 8: “no”
    • Line 9: “no”
    • Line 15: “know,” “what time he came down,”
    • Lines 16-17: “why / He kept on plugging at the four aways —”
    • Lines 21-24: “stood and watched the frigid wind / Tousling the clouds, lay on the fusty bed / Telling himself that this was home, and grinned, / And shivered,”
    • Line 26: “no”
    • Line 28: “no,” “know”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “Flowered,” “frayed”
    • Line 4: “Fall,” “five”
    • Line 8: “Bed,” “bulb”
    • Line 9: “Behind,” “books,” “bags”
    • Line 10: “lie”
    • Line 11: “lay,” “stub”
    • Line 12: “same saucer-souvenir”
    • Line 18: “frame,” “Frinton folk”
    • Line 20: “sister’s,” “Stoke”
    • Line 21: “watched,” “wind”
    • Line 24: “shivered,” “shaking”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “curtains,” “thin”
    • Line 4: “within,” “inches,” “sill”
    • Line 5: “window,” “strip,” “building”
    • Line 6: “littered”
    • Line 21: “frigid wind”
    • Line 22: “Tousling,” “clouds”
    • Line 23: “grinned”
    • Line 24: “shivered”
    • Line 26: “no,” “show”
    • Line 28: “no,” “don’t know”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “room. He”
    • Line 2: “Bodies, till”
    • Line 3: “him.’ Flowered,” “curtains, thin”
    • Line 6: “Tussocky, littered. ‘Mr”
    • Line 8: “Bed, upright chair, sixty-watt bulb, no”
    • Line 9: “door, no”
    • Line 10: “it.’ So”
    • Line 11: “lay, and”
    • Line 12: “souvenir, and”
    • Line 13: “wool, to”
    • Line 15: “habits — what”
    • Line 16: “gravy, why”
    • Line 18: “frame: the”
    • Line 22: “clouds, lay”
    • Line 23: “ home, and”
    • Line 24: “shivered, without”
    • Line 28: “better, I”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “stayed / The”
    • Lines 2-3: “till / They”
    • Lines 6-7: “took / My”
    • Lines 8-9: “hook / Behind”
    • Lines 10-11: “lie / Where”
    • Lines 12-13: “try / Stuffing”
    • Lines 13-14: “drown / The”
    • Lines 16-17: “why / He”
    • Lines 18-19: “folk / Who”
    • Lines 21-22: “wind / Tousling”
    • Lines 22-23: “bed / Telling”
    • Lines 24-25: “dread / That”
    • Lines 26-27: “show / Than”
    • Lines 27-28: “sure / He”

  • Aporia

    

    

    

    

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    Where aporia appears in the poem:

    • Lines 21-28: “But if he stood and watched the frigid wind / Tousling the clouds, lay on the fusty bed / Telling himself that this was home, and grinned, / And shivered, without shaking off the dread / That how we live measures our own nature, / And at his age having no more to show / Than one hired box should make him pretty sure / He warranted no better, I don’t know.”

• “Mr Bleaney” 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.

  • The Bodies
  • Tussocky
  • Fags
  • Saucer-souvenir
  • Set
  • Four aways
  • Frinton/Stoke
  • Tousling
  • Fusty
  • Hired
  • Warranted
  • (Location in poem: Line 2: “The whole time he was at the Bodies”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Mr Bleaney”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Mr Bleaney” Speaker

• “Mr Bleaney” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Mr Bleaney”

• More “Mr Bleaney” Resources

  • External Resources

    • A Larkin Documentary — Watch the 2003 documentary "Philip Larkin: Love and Death in Hull."

    • The Poet Reads the Poem — Listen to Larkin reading "Mr Bleaney" with a short introduction.

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

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

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Philip Larkin

    • Afternoons

    • An Arundel Tomb

    • A Study of Reading Habits

    • Church Going

    • Coming

    • Home Is So Sad

    • MCMXIV

    • Money

    • Next, Please

    • Poetry of Departures

    • Talking in Bed

    • The Trees

    • The Whitsun Weddings

    • This Be The Verse

    • Water

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