Philip Larkin

Philip Arthur Larkin (August 9, 1922 – December 2, 1985) was an English poet, novelist and jazz critic. One of the most prominent British poets of the second half of the 20th century – he was offered, but declined, the Poet Laureateship following the death of John Betjeman – he spent his working life as a university librarian.

Literary career

Larkin's early work shows the influence of Yeats, but his later poetic identity was influenced mainly by Thomas Hardy. He is well-known for his use of slang and coarse language in his poetry, partly balanced by a similarly antique word choice. With fine use of enjambement and rhyme, his poetry is highly structured, but never rigid. Death was a recurring theme and subject of his poetry, Aubade being an example of this.

Related Topics:
Yeats - Thomas Hardy - Enjambement - Rhyme

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The Less Deceived, published in 1955, marked Larkin as an up-and-coming poet. He was for a time associated with The Movement.

Related Topics:
1955 - The Movement

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1964's The Whitsun Weddings confirmed his reputation. The title poem is a masterly depiction of the sights seen by the poet from a train one Whitsun; though this description does the poem little justice. In 1972 he wrote the oft-quoted "Going, Going", a poem which reveals his increasing streak of romantic fatalism in his view of England in his later years – prophesising a complete destruction of the countryside and of a certain idealised idea of national togetherness and identity, it ends with the doom-laden statement "I just think it will happen, soon". High Windows, his last book, was released in 1974; for some critics it represents a falling-off from his previous two books into acrid self-parody; yet it contains a number of his most-loved pieces, including "This Be The Verse" and "The Explosion", as well as the title poem.

Related Topics:
1964 - The Whitsun Weddings - Whitsun - High Windows - 1974 - This Be The Verse

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Besides poetry, Larkin published two novels, Jill (1946) and A Girl in Winter (1947), and several essays.

Related Topics:
1946 - 1947

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