Counting
Counting - meaning Summary
The Difficulty of Pairing
Larkin's short poem contrasts the mental ease of imagining singular existence with the difficulty of imagining two. The first stanza shows how one room, bed, chair and person fit neatly into desire and necessity. The second stanza argues that moving to two requires renunciation: to create a pair someone or something must be denied or displaced. It reflects on the emotional and practical resistance to sharing or doubling.
Read Complete AnalysesThinking in terms of one Is easily done— One room, one bed, one chair, One person there, Makes perfect sense; one set Of wishes can be met, One coffin filled. But counting up to two Is harder to do; For one must be denied Before it’s tried.
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