Sad Steps by Philip Larkin

“Sad Steps” by Philip Larkin was written when Larkin was in his mid-forties. The reader can sense a bit of bitterness and vulgarity from the opening line, “Groping back to bed after a piss” (1). This line also lets the reader that this is an average citizen rather than a rich man because such vulgarity would not dare be used to describe the upper class. The conclusion that I have gotten from this poem is that the moon is a symbol of youth. Larkin describes it as, “a reminder of the strength and pain / of being young; that it can’t come again” (16-17). This seems like a mid-life crisis moment for Larkin as he realizes that he is not young anymore and he becomes sadden by this thought. As he is staring at the moon, he feels as though the moon is yelling, “Lozenge of love! Medallion of art! / O wolves of memory! Immensements!” and this just seems what a young person would yell (11-12).