Brief Summary or ysis of The Importance of Elsewhere by Philip Larkin?

The speaker feels lonely and strange in a place that is not his home, “living in Ireland since it was not home”. He has nothing that is familiar to him. There are constant reminders, in everything he hears. “The salt rebuff of speech” is the different accent that he hears here, it makes him feel uncomfortable because it accentuates his accent, emphasising that he is an outsider and reminds him that he feels lonely. The speaker romanticises about the city he is in, and how he could come to be comfortable there. He uses imagery to describe the atmosphere: “draughty streets” referring to the people’s coldness to outsiders. He is not allowed to feel like an outsider in England, his home. “Living in England has no excuse” suggests that he thinks that if he didn’t fit in, it would be his own fault. ♥