The second verse indicates a transition to the past tense. Instead of focusing on the audience's lives today, Larkin turns his attention to the previous generation; turns his attention to the generation that leads him to question individuality and the influence the people around us have on our lives. Larkin goes from saying “They messed you up” to saying “But they got messed up too.” In the first stanza he blames mom and dad for the negative aspects, but in the second stanza he rebukes his original thought alarming the reader that they were also messed up in their lives; Larkin is changing his point of view by writing in the past and making it clear that it's not the fault of past generations, because they were messed up too. The third stanza marks another turning point in the poem, as Larkin switches to writing in the future tense. The third verse comes across more as a warning to the audience, because it is written in futuristic terms. Larkin writes, "Get out as soon as possible and don't have children yourself." The use of “not” in this sentence indicates a time when