[Kate Benedict]

Of for heaven's sake, psychoanalysis is a complicated subject. I didn't mean to promulgate anything but I'll state as a fact that parent blaming was a huge aspect of my experience of psychoanalysis. Incorrect or not, the Freudian obsession with parental influence, the Oedipus complex, etc., weasled into the culture at large. Larkin was writing at a high point in the popularity of analysis and his mockery is spot on. That's the subject. Larkin. The poem. The matrix in which the poem was written.

[peter richards]

Wot she said

[Julie Steiner]

I like what Kate's written, too--hadn't thought about the poem as a response to the prevailing Freudian psychobabble of the time, but that fits perfectly!

Still, that admission doesn't detract from my God-given right to make a fool of myself in public by misinterpreting any poem any way I please. (Although I can't quite believe no one else sees a "Don't think you're any better than they were" vibe underlying the humor. Grumble. But I'll leave it there.)

[Kate Benedict]

Oh, yeah, I see that too: "don't have kids because someday you'll be the one wearing quaint outfits in the photo albums while your grown kids are mucking about and malingering and all effed up!"

[Rob Stuart]

We are all f**ked up by our parents. It is just a question of degree.