Windows in George Herbert and Philip Larkin: a study of poetic metaphor

Abstract

In ‘Bridge and Door,’ Simmel makes a comment regarding the function of the window. He argues that the window acts as ‘a connection of inner space with the external world.’ He argues that ‘the teleological emotion with respect to the window is directed almost exclusively from inside to outside.’ Simmel speaks of the window as a mediating entity, a structural attribute that separates. With Simmel’s comments in mind, this essay examines two poems: one from the seventeenth-century by George Herbert, and another from the twentieth-century by Philip Larkin.