Read the following poem and answer the question:
Talking in Bed
Talking in bed ought to be easiest,
Lying together there goes back so far, An emblem of two people being honest.
Yet more and more time passes silently. Outside, the wind’s incomplete unrest Builds and disperses clouds about the sky,
And dark towns heap up on the horizon. None of this cares for us. Nothing shows why At this unique distance from isolation
It becomes still more difficult to find
Words at once true and kind,
Or not untrue and not unkinD)
Philip Larkin
The poet and his companion are
Correct Answer :
In A Place Away From The Towns.
Solution :
The correct answer is: In A Place Away From The Towns.
Let us analyze the text of Philip Larkin's poem "Talking in Bed" to understand why this option is correct.
In the second and third stanzas, the poet describes the environment outside the room where the speaker and his companion are lying:
"Outside, the wind’s incomplete unrest
Builds and disperses clouds about the sky,
And dark towns heap up on the horizon."
The phrase "dark towns heap up on the horizon" is the key geographical indicator. The horizon represents the furthest limit of one's line of sight, where the sky seems to meet the earth. If the towns are seen "heaped up on the horizon," they are located far in the distance, rather than where the speaker is currently situated.
This indicates that the speaker and his companion are physically separated from these urban areas, placing them in a setting that is remote or away from the towns.
Furthermore, the poem mentions being at a "unique distance from isolation." This reinforces the sense of physical remoteness and detachment from the busy, populated areas (the "towns"), placing the couple in a quiet, isolated space where the distant towns are merely shapes on the horizon.
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