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Philip Larkin: Selected Poems
The book offers a detailed commentary on the poetry of Philip Larkin, exploring the political and cultural contexts which have shaped his contemporary reputation. Part 1, Life and Times, traces Larkin’s early years and follows his development, within his career as a university librarian, into one of the most important and popular voices in twentieth-century poetry. Part 2, Artistic Strategies, explores a range of methodologies and aesthetic influences by which Larkin was able to create poetry at once both accessible and profound. Part 3, Reading Larkin, provides detailed critical commentary on many of the poems from his three major collections, The Less Deceived, The Whitsun Weddings and High Windows. Part 4, Reception, outlines the history of Larkin’s reputation from the mid-1950s to the present, examining the debates and ideological confrontations to which his poetry has given rise.BEWARE FAKE REVIEWS ON AMAZON.COM. ****Five Star Reviews on Amazon UKInsightful Assessment of a still under-rated Poet. I found this book gripped me from the start. Confirming some things I though I knew, illuminating areas I knew little about and flatly contradicting some misconceptions, the book is insightful, sympathetic and, of course, literate. Here is the real Larkin - a poet I admired more than liked, revealed to be more interesting and accomplished than I knew. By RoyAn Excellent Larkin Teacher provides a great insight into the Poet and his Times. This book reflects great scholarship. Mr Gilroy is a dedicated and insightful reader of Larkin and I recommend this book simply because it has made Larkin one of my favorite poets. By Alexandros Alexandropoulos
122 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 12, 2009
18 people are currently reading
560 people want to read
About the author
Philip Larkin
127Ìýbooks679ÌýfollowersPhilip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL, was an English poet, novelist and jazz critic. He spent his working life as a university librarian and was offered the Poet Laureateship following the death of John Betjeman, but declined the post. Larkin is commonly regarded as one of the greatest English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century. He first came to prominence with the release of his third collection The Less Deceived in 1955. The Whitsun Weddings and High Windows followed in 1964 and 1974. In 2003 Larkin was chosen as "the nation's best-loved poet" in a survey by the Poetry Book Society, and in 2008 The Times named Larkin as the greatest post-war writer.
Larkin was born in city of Coventry, England, the only son and younger child of Sydney Larkin (1884�1948), city treasurer of Coventry, who came from Lichfield, and his wife, Eva Emily Day (1886�1977), of Epping. From 1930 to 1940 he was educated at King Henry VIII School in Coventry, and in October 1940, in the midst of the Second World War, went up to St John's College, Oxford, to read English language and literature. Having been rejected for military service because of his poor eyesight, Larkin was able, unlike many of his contemporaries, to follow the traditional full-length degree course, taking a first-class degree in 1943. Whilst at Oxford he met Kingsley Amis, who would become a lifelong friend and frequent correspondent. Shortly after graduating he was appointed municipal librarian at Wellington, Shropshire. In 1946, he became assistant librarian at University College, Leicester and in 1955 sub-librarian at Queen's University, Belfast. In March 1955, Larkin was appointed librarian at The University of Hull, a position he retained until his death.
Larkin was born in city of Coventry, England, the only son and younger child of Sydney Larkin (1884�1948), city treasurer of Coventry, who came from Lichfield, and his wife, Eva Emily Day (1886�1977), of Epping. From 1930 to 1940 he was educated at King Henry VIII School in Coventry, and in October 1940, in the midst of the Second World War, went up to St John's College, Oxford, to read English language and literature. Having been rejected for military service because of his poor eyesight, Larkin was able, unlike many of his contemporaries, to follow the traditional full-length degree course, taking a first-class degree in 1943. Whilst at Oxford he met Kingsley Amis, who would become a lifelong friend and frequent correspondent. Shortly after graduating he was appointed municipal librarian at Wellington, Shropshire. In 1946, he became assistant librarian at University College, Leicester and in 1955 sub-librarian at Queen's University, Belfast. In March 1955, Larkin was appointed librarian at The University of Hull, a position he retained until his death.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 29, 2019
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What are days for?
Days are where we live.
They come, they wake us
Time and time over.
They are to be happy in:
Where can we live but days?
Ah, solving that question
Brings the priest and the doctor
In their long coats
Running over the fields.
It's quite clear that Philip Larkin is creating a kind of poetry which is totally different from the past, to criticize the type of poetics applied in T.S. Eliot or Yeats or the themes and subjects in the generation past... To criticize the grand narrative used in the generation before. T.S. Eliot and others showed much interest in mythology but Larkin has no interest in that and prefers a tangible range of vocabulary, safe and sound language, crystal clear, easily accessed not manipulated.
Larkin has taken the very ironical tone to talk about everyday life, very simple language and he doesn't get overwhelmed in literary devices. Unlike imagists his language is void, not much imagery is used, not filled with tropes.
His language is bare and not with embellishments; in the horizontal axis we don't have extraordinary juxtapositions like the language poets (As we see in John Ashbury) and in the vertical axis, we don’t see much substitutions as we have in metaphor poets (Like Joseph Brodsky). It's a childlike language, quite innocent and not polished. It reminds me of "Tiger" by William Blake.
What are days for?
Days are where we live.
They come, they wake us
Time and time over.
They are to be happy in:
Where can we live but days?
Ah, solving that question
Brings the priest and the doctor
In their long coats
Running over the fields.
It's quite clear that Philip Larkin is creating a kind of poetry which is totally different from the past, to criticize the type of poetics applied in T.S. Eliot or Yeats or the themes and subjects in the generation past... To criticize the grand narrative used in the generation before. T.S. Eliot and others showed much interest in mythology but Larkin has no interest in that and prefers a tangible range of vocabulary, safe and sound language, crystal clear, easily accessed not manipulated.
Larkin has taken the very ironical tone to talk about everyday life, very simple language and he doesn't get overwhelmed in literary devices. Unlike imagists his language is void, not much imagery is used, not filled with tropes.
His language is bare and not with embellishments; in the horizontal axis we don't have extraordinary juxtapositions like the language poets (As we see in John Ashbury) and in the vertical axis, we don’t see much substitutions as we have in metaphor poets (Like Joseph Brodsky). It's a childlike language, quite innocent and not polished. It reminds me of "Tiger" by William Blake.
May 7, 2017
I've read a few poems from here but I find myself re-reading Aubade. It is my absolute favorite poem.
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September 19, 2015Side by side, their faces blurred,
The earl and countess lie in stone,
Their proper habits vaguely shown
As jointed armour, stiffened pleat,
And that faint hint of the absurd�
The little dogs under their feet.
Such plainness of the pre-baroque
Hardly involves the eye, until
It meets his left-hand gauntlet, still
Clasped empty in the other; and
One sees, with a sharp tender shock,
His hand withdrawn, holding her hand.
They would not think to lie so long.
Such faithfulness in effigy
Was just a detail friends would see:
A sculptor’s sweet commissioned grace
Thrown off in helping to prolong
The Latin names around the base.
They would not guess how early in
Their supine stationary voyage
The air would change to soundless damage,
Turn the old tenantry away;
How soon succeeding eyes begin
To look, not read. Rigidly they
Persisted, linked, through lengths and breadths
Of time. Snow fell, undated. Light
Each summer thronged the glass. A bright
Litter of birdcalls strewed the same
Bone-riddled ground. And up the paths
The endless altered people came,
Washing at their identity.
Now, helpless in the hollow of
An unarmorial age, a trough
Of smoke in slow suspended skeins
Above their scrap of history,
Only an attitude remains:
Time has transfigured them into
Untruth. The stone fidelity
They hardly meant has come to be
Their final blazon, and to prove
Our almost-instinct almost true:
What will survive of us is love.
December 9, 2021
"The Sixties began for me in 1963, after the lifting of the "Lady Chatterley" ban, and The Beatles first LP." ---Philip Larkin. Larkin is much quoted by conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic, yet, as these poems show, he had little faith in tradition or anything else for that matter. Much more of a pessimist and cynic than a reactionary, the SELECTED POEMS show him railing at modernity, yes, but also the family, procreation, and the notion of a brighter future. He is a clever fellow, if not particularly profound.
October 4, 2020
hearing my teacher try to condone the fact that Larkin was a paedophilic misogynist whilst calling his poems (and I quote) “tasty� was quite painful, but Larkins life aside, just looking at the poetry techniques he uses, girllllllll it really does feed my teachers needs......
March 5, 2019
Some wonderful poems!
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May 31, 2021The explosion: 4/5
May 1, 2015
my but he was a sad sod. beautiful language, lovely control of creativity and cadence, but wonder what his poetics would have been like if he had medical aid.
April 7, 2015
Irreplaceable.
May 14, 2016
Read Larkin's The Whitsun Wedding and the Church Going
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
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