poetry texts, poem archive at plagiarist.com

the word is "detest" not "detect"

This poem was writtien in 1955, when he talks about leaving home and hating his house he could be talking about the urbanization taking place in the fifties and the cookie cutter images that were being presented at that time.

i disagree. i dont think it is a reference to that at all. it is a general statement not just referring to that time. the main thing that larkin is trying to say is that he can never have that feeling of excitement and boyish adventure if he does leave. This is because he wont be doing it impulsively therefore it will be fake. he is stepping back planning + preparing like you would before making an object

Actually, jojo, every copy of this poem that I have seen says "detect," not "detest," though it does seem like the latter should be the word used. I misread the poem the first time because of that. What source has the word "detest?"