"This Be The Verse" is a lyric poem in three
stanzas with an alternating rhyme scheme, by the English poet
Philip Larkin (1922–1985). It was written around April 1971, was first published in the August 1971 issue of New Humanist, and appeared in the 1974 collection High Windows.
It is one of Larkin's best-known poems; the opening lines ("They fuck you up, your mum and dad") are among his most frequently quoted. Larkin himself compared it with
W. B. Yeats's "
Lake Isle of Innisfree" and said he expected to hear it recited in his honour by a thousand
Girl Guides before he died. It is frequently
parodied. Television viewers in the United Kingdom voted it one of the "Nation's Top 100 Poems".[1]
Synopsis
The poem consists of three
stanzas of four
iambic tetrameter feet on an alternating rhyme scheme. The speaker, addressing the reader directly, expresses the idea that parents put a lot of emotional weight on their children with the famous line, "They fuck you up, your mum and dad".[2] The speaker goes on to explain that it may not be intentional, but stems from their own emotional baggage (with "some extra, just for you").[2] In the second stanza, the speaker describes the way that the reader's parents were also given this emotional trauma by their parents. The third stanza is where the poem makes its assertion: the misery humanity experiences is a cycle that expands continuously. The speaker concludes with some advice: "Get out as early as you can... And don’t have any kids yourself".
The title of the poem is an allusion to
Robert Louis Stevenson's "Requiem" ("This be the verse you grave for me").[3] Stevenson's thought of a happy homecoming in death is given an ironic turn. He often thought of dying in a ditch, but ended up dying peacefully in his home at the age of 44. Being a "[g]othic writer", Stevenson wrote a lot of grim stories. His most famous is The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.[4]
Enduring appeal
A testament to the enduring appeal of Larkin's poem came in April 2009, when the first four lines were recited by a British appeal court judge as part of his judgement of a particularly acrimonious divorce case involving the future custody arrangements of a nine-year-old child. Lord Justice Wall referred to the emotional damage caused to the child, saying: "These four lines seem to me to give a clear warning to parents who, post-separation, continue to fight the battles of the past, and show each other no respect."[5]
Anne Clark performed a version to music on her 1988 album R.S.V.P., calling it "a nursery rhyme for grown-ups". The song was first published on her 1987 album Hopeless Cases.
The title of the 1991
Issue 37 of Granta, "The Family: They Fuck You Up", was taken from the poem, which is also referenced in the editor's introduction.
The opening of the poem is referenced in the fourth episode of the third series of the
E4 drama Skins.
The opening line is quoted by the Monkey Dust character known only as
Chat room pervert, who wrote "they fuck you up, your mum and dad... as
eminem says".
British clinical
psychologistOliver James published a book in 2002 titled They F*** You Up, starting each chapter with a line or stanza from Larkin's verse, followed in 2010 by a further book on parenting and child development called How Not to F*** Them Up.
The
Talking Heads song "
Sax and Violins" features a variation of the poem's opening line: "Mom and Pop, they will fuck you up, for sure."
The
Philadelphian punk band
Ex Friends put the words of the poem to music in their digital single "This Be The Verse".[7]
The first stanza is quoted in the second episode of
the ninth season of American television show Criminal Minds, but with the
euphemism "They mess you up, your mum and dad."
In the HBO TV series Succession, season 1: episode 7, titled
Austerlitz, the Roy family attend a therapy session with Alon (
Griffin Dunne), who opens the session with the first stanza of the poem.
In the Apple TV+ series Shantaram, season 1: episode 5, titled
The Sin in the Crime, Charlie Hunnam's character, Lin, is seen quoting the first line of the poem to Antonia Desplat's character, Karla, who continues quoting the second line of the poem.
The first stanza is quoted in Firefly Lane, Season 2: Episode 6, "Reborn on the Fourth of July".[8] A valet quotes the first few lines of the poem to
Katherine Heigl's character, Tully, as they sit on the hood of her car.
The entire poem is recited in Season 3, Episode 11 of
Ted Lasso by the character of Mae, the pub owner.
^Firefly Lane S2E3 "Reborn on the Fourth of July" Directed by Vanessa Parise. Stephanie Germain Productions, 2022, Netflix,
https://www.netflix.com/watch/81416369