"
The speaker of this poem did not notice a noise at first because "sun destroys / The interest of what's happening in the shade." Pairs of this poem's eight ten-line stanzas are straddled by descriptions of people "out on the end of an event / Waving goodbye / To something that survived it," and "the lemons, mauves, and olive-ochres that / Marked off the girls unreally from the rest." This poem defines a span of time "just long enough to settle hats and say / I nearly died," during which a dozen of the title (*) events occur. At the end of this poem, a "frail / Travelling coincidence" that "Stood ready to be loosed with all the power / That being changed can give," is propelled into a "sense of falling, like an arrow-shower / Sent out of sight, somewhere becoming rain." The speaker of this poem watches the title ceremonies while sitting in a hot "three-quarters-empty train" bound for London. For 10 points, name this poem about nuptials taking place on the Saturday before Pentecost, which titles a collection by Philip Larkin.
The speaker of this poem did not notice a noise at first because "sun destroys /
"The Whitsun Weddings" 