How typical is Larkin's Faith Healing in terms of subject, theme, structure and versification? Faith Healing by Philip Larkin In 1964, Philip Larkin published his third book of poems, entitled “The Whitsun Weddings.” One of the many critically acclaimed poems was "Faith Healing". In this essay I intend to explore how typical this poem is in terms of subject, theme, structure and versification. In Faith Healing, women turn to an American faith healer for blessing. The character of the poem is written from the perspective of an outsider, watching this show. Faith Healing is divided into three stanzas, each of ten lines. Iambic pentameter is used to give 5 major accents to each of the 10 lines. The three stanzas actually contribute to the action of the poem. In the first stanza, the women turn to the Faith Healer; in the second they go away and "Sheepishly stray". Finally, the poem ends with the third stanza where Larkin analyzes the situation. This versification is actually quite typical in The Whitsun Weddings. “Behold” is another poem in this collection, and Larkin once again writes in iambic pentameter. He uses traditional versification to describe a journey from an industrial city to a place where much more satisfaction can be obtained. This journey was also mapped by the structure of the poem. Larkin wrote 4 stanzas and each of them marked a progression in the journey. This is similar to Faith Healing where each stanza moves the story to the next event or occurrence. It is a similar case for "Mr Bleaney" where every line is written in iambic pentameter, with only one exception for the first line. This poem also tells a story where the first four lines are descriptive before... middle of the paper... what we really long for as Faith Healing suggests that if these women had realized their loneliness earlier in life, they could have loved and been loved in return. This is only a small difference; but it is worth considering when the question of the typicality of Faith Healing arises. Overall, I think the similarities outweigh the differences and it can be concluded that Faith Healing is in fact quite similar to a selection of other poems in Whitsun Weddings. There are some differences, and faith healing is unique in some respects, such as the fact that Larkin did not personally experience this event. However, overall FaithHealing is a typical Larkin poem, with themes of deprivation and loneliness, iambic pentameter and enjambement as features of the language, and stanzas that are initially descriptive before moving on to conclude with a thoughtful and thoughtful panorama..