MCMXIV

Those long uneven lines
Standing as patiently
As if they were stretched outside
The Oval or Villa Park,
The crowns of hats, the sun
On moustached archaic faces
Grinning as if it were all
An August Bank Holiday lark;

And the shut shops, the bleached
Established names on the sunblinds,
The farthings and sovereigns,
And dark-clothed children at play
Called after kings and queens,
The tin advertisements
For cocoa and twist, and the pubs
Wide open all day;

And the countryside not caring
The place-names all hazed over
With flowering grasses, and fields
Shadowing Domesday lines
Under wheats' restless silence;
The differently-dressed servants
With tiny rooms in huge houses,
The dust behind limousines;

Never such innocence,
Never before or since,
As changed itself to past
Without a word--the men
Leaving the gardens tidy,
The thousands of marriages
Lasting a little while longer:
Never such innocence again.

Content
A mediation poem, MCMXIV centres around a photograph of men queuing up to volunteer to fight during WW1.

Analysis
The title comes in Roman Numerals, creating distance and detachment in the reader, which perhaps only emphasises the publics distance from the real truth during war and the whole message of the poem, that despite horrific scenes making us confidently ensure 'never such innocence again', we are naïve to the horrors that still continue to go on.

The 'long uneven lines' of the queued men represent the surge of enthusiastic volunteers yet with the underlying sombre tone from the repetition of 'never such innocence again' it could also be read as the distorted picture of war the young men had, their uneven futures. The first stanza goes on to explore this common, lackadaisical approach to war, the allusion to 'villa park' and the idea of it being an easy victory- over by Christmas, a little bit of competition, simply 'holiday lark'. Kitchener's recruitment campaign labelled it a holiday and painted the 'sunny' picture displayed within this stanza yet perhaps the 'patient' waiting of the men highlights that real contrast, the glum trench warfare dreading 'going over the top'.
These attitudes were only encouraged as a result of 1915 DORA that brought complete censorship of letters home, newspapers and paintings to ensure moral and popularity at home. This juvenile lack of awareness, is presented in the following stanzas, from the 'shut shops' not only reflecting huge shortages and rationings but also the deceived and 'shut off' intelligence of the British public, to the 'dark clothed children'. Here the men, often no older than 16, are depicted in their juvenile innocence, the 'dark' clothes symbolic of their ominous futures of death and injury, an uncomfortable dramatic irony as Larkin writes in 1964- we are fully aware of their dark futures. The 'restless silence' and marriages lasting a little while longer imply the strains war created and the inclusion of 'servants' fighting identifies this as a universal event, all aspects of society were involved and the catastrophic conclusions impacted everyone.

This poem emulates a snowballing structure, as we see the relaxed optimism of the men disintegrate into harsh realities and exposure of false censorship, With 'Doomsday' marking the descent into reality.  The regular octaves with enjambment of it being 1 complete sentence coveys this 'flowering' image of the enthusiastic vitality that repeated itself despite the devastating consequences.

The repetition  of 'never such innocence again' puts it all into perspective, the unjust deception these men faced should clearly never reoccur. Yet published in 1964, the irony of World War 2 and following massacres of punishment puts us in an uncomfortable and guilty position in knowing that we did let it happen again. Labelled as a 'searing expose of modern war' this poem not only attacks the handling of conflict but also the modern war- the unfair world of advertisement presenting such unattainable ideals, much like the hypocritical Faith Healer and the fantastical woman of Sunny Prestatyn.