Larkin
quoted Forster's
"Only connect..." at an
inept boxing match. Was either
correct?
Aug 9, 2013
Aug 9, 2013 at 3:22 AM UTC
Larkin
quoted Forster's
"Only connect..." at an
inept boxing match. Was either
correct?
The epigraph to E.M. Forster's (1879-1970) novel Howard's End is "Only connect...". His humanistic impulse toward understanding and sympathy is aptly summed up by this phrase.
"Legend has it that once, at a dismally inept amateur boxing match in Hull, Philip Larkin turned to his neighbour with the words "Only connect." In its way, this is typical of Larkin. Not only that he should thus introduce a hallowed Forsterian nostrum into a coarse context, but also that he should yearn for aggression and directness."
^http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._M._Forster
^Chambers, Harry. "An Enormous Yes: In Memoriam Philip Larkin (1922-1985)".
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