>>7296688Sorry I don't know what came over me.
I'm not sure I would regard either one as better, just a kind of jekyll and hyde aspect of the same poetic current at that time. Each of them produced some dross and some sublime even if sublime fits neither well. Larkin has the easier immediate appeal: the nasty crabbed cynicism of the bitter drunk that we all aspire to in our darker moments. His rural poems seem like a rest cure, a relief that we hope to achieve a hope that we can still enjoy flowers after life has ground us down.
Betjamin's crime is that he rhymes. It engages us to easily, it's a child's trick and his personality only reinforces that, the friendly, too jovial uncle. He had more to say about England at that time but it might take us longer to recognise it, it is a subtle taste. They are more timeless for all their era evoking parochialism.
The Last Laugh
I made hay while the sun shone.
My work sold.
Now, if the harvest is over
And the world cold,
Give me the bonus of laughter
As I lose hold.
