Philip Larkin

Philip Larkin's "Sad Steps" is a poem in which the narrator is envious of the moon. Unlike humans, the moon does not have an end and is symbolized almost as immortal. In the poem, the reader can grasp that the narrator is perhaps middle-aged and is not particularily happy, as indicated by the title: "Sad Steps". Also, he wishes to be young once again, and critizes the moon for not having a beginning nor an ending: It simply rises, becomes full, and sets just as it always does. The moon is unaware of its immortality, which the narrator yearns for. Also, the moon reminds the narrator that he is not getting any younger and that his youth will never be again, as stated in the following lines, "Is a reminder of the strength and pain/ Og being young: that it can't come again, / But for others undiminished somewhere" (lines 16-18).