- Summary
- Themes
- Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
- Symbols
- Poetic Devices
- Vocabulary & References
- Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
- Speaker
- Setting
- Context
- Resources
- Summary
- Themes
- Line-by-Line
Explanations - Symbols
- Poetic Devices
- Vocabulary &
References - Form, Meter, &
Rhyme Scheme - Speaker
- Setting
- Context
- Resources
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British poet Philip Larkin wrote "Money" during the aftermath of the 1973 financial crash, which caused massive inflation and increased consumer borrowing in the form of credit cards and loans. The poem critiques how money effectively rules the world, encouraging people to think—and spend—in a shallow, materialistic way. There's no point in saving money, either, the speaker laments, because it's useless once you're dead. No matter what, money calls the tune, leaving people to scramble for whatever happiness they can find in an "intensely sad" system.
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The Full Text of “Money”
The Full Text of “Money”
“Money” Summary
“Money” Themes
Money, Consumerism, and Unhappiness
Where this theme appears in the poem:
- Lines 1-16
Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Money”
Lines 1-4
Quarterly, is it, ...
... a few cheques.'Lines 5-8
So I look ...
... do with lifeLines 9-12
—In fact, they've ...
... than a shave.Line 13
I listen to money singing.
Lines 13-16
It's like looking ...
... is intensely sad.
“Money” Symbols
Money
Where this symbol appears in the poem:
- Lines 1-4: “Quarterly, is it, money reproaches me: / 'Why do you let me lie here wastefully? / I am all you never had of goods and sex. / You could get them still by writing a few cheques.'”
- Lines 7-8: “By now they've a second house and car and wife: / Clearly money has something to do with life”
- Line 13: “I listen to money singing.”
“Money” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
Analogy
Where analogy appears in the poem:
- Lines 9-12: “—In fact, they've a lot in common, if you enquire: / You can't put off being young until you retire, / And however you bank your screw, the money you save / Won't in the end buy you more than a shave.”
Personification
Where personification appears in the poem:
- Lines 1-4: “Quarterly, is it, money reproaches me: / 'Why do you let me lie here wastefully? / I am all you never had of goods and sex. / You could get them still by writing a few cheques.'”
- Line 13: “I listen to money singing.”
Simile
Where simile appears in the poem:
- Lines 13-16: “It's like looking down / From long french windows at a provincial town, / The slums, the canal, the churches ornate and mad / In the evening sun.”
Understatement
Where understatement appears in the poem:
- Line 8: “Clearly money has something to do with life”
“Money” 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.
- Reproaches
- Quarterly
- Goods
- However you bank your screw
- Shave
- Provincial town
- French windows
(Location in poem: Line 1: “Quarterly, is it, money reproaches me:”)
Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Money”
Form
Meter
Rhyme Scheme
“Money” Speaker
“Money” Setting
Literary and Historical Context of “Money”
More “Money” Resources
External Resources
The Poem Out Loud— Listen to a reading of "Money."
Larkin on the South Bank Show— Watch a 1981 TV program about the poet.
Larkin at the British Library— Browse the resources of the Philip Larkin Collection at the British Library.
An Interview with the Poet— Watch poet John Betjeman interview Philip Larkin in 1964.
A Biography of the Poet— Learn more about Larkin's life and work, courtesy ofthe Poetry Foundation.
LitCharts on Other Poems by Philip Larkin
Money
Full Text
Lines 3-4
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed
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