The main character of “This Be The Verse” is the unnamed speaker. Larkin supplies few concrete details regarding his identity, but words like “mum” (1) and “soppy” (7) demonstrate that he is English. His famous opening phrase, “They fuck you up, your mum and dad” (1), marks him as a common man, unconcerned with formal language. But his poem’s allusive title and later reference to a “coastal shelf” (10) suggest that he is perhaps more erudite than he lets on.

The speaker is deeply pessimistic, believing that one’s parents cannot help but to negatively influence them: “They may not mean to, but they do” (2). In spite of this pessimism, he retains a degree of empathy, recognizing that those who “fuck you up” (1) today “were fucked up in their turn” (5) when they were children. From this empathetic pessimism he draws the wisdom that he shares with his audience, calling on...