Philip Larkin (1922 - 1985)

Larkin - the hermit of Hull

Larkin - librarian but not laureate (his own choice, that: he was offered the post a year before his death) - can seem preoccupied with how 'man hands on misery to man' (This Be The Verse). He even appears to describe himself, in Posterity, as 'one of those old-type natural fouled-up guys' and is reputed to have said: 'Deprivation is for me what daffodils were to Wordsworth.'

A similar tone can be heard in Vers de société in High Windows. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, this French term means 'witty, typically ironic, light verse, written with polish and ease of expression to amuse a sophisticated audience' - not (as one student tried to explain) someone excluded from society, though in a way that does catch something of what the narrator of the poem feels:

And sitting by a lamp more often brings
Not peace, but other things.
Beyond the light stand failure and remorse
Whispering Dear Warlock-Williams: Why, of course -

But beware of simplification and of being deceived by such an ironic voice: I think you'll find there's more to the old guy than that. Consider Sad Steps from High Windows, for example. Having read a batch of examination answers in which only one in twenty-two seemed to be aware of the reference to Philp Sidney, I've added this handy page on moon poems.

The Larkin voice?

Larkin, although he achieved considerable popularity, appears to have looked with a jaundiced eye on fame and followers. Perhaps he would have been surprised to know that Peter Forbes, on the British Council Contemporary Writers site, refers to Carol Ann Duffy having an "elegiac, personal voice, one that - after transposing the politics and gender and a few other things - was very like that of Larkin". See the Duffy page on this site to learn more.

Larkin on the web

• Philip Larkin from Wikipedia, the free web encyclopedia; the entry includes links to the text of a few Larkin poems.
• Authors' Calendar entry on Larkin: useful short biography and bibliography.
• The quarrel within ourselves: Andrew Motion introduces The Guardian's selection of ten Larkin poems. There are also further links to Larkin material.
• Philip Larkin's poetry on Art of Europe: online copies of eight poems (that probably ought not to be there).
• The Philip Larkin Society: bibiliography, a poem of the month, a letter from Larkin and more. The links page includes references to some interesting articles and the forums may contain an answer to your question.
• A tribute to the late poet Philip Larkin: an obituary by fellow poet Craig Raine, The Guardian, 3 December 1985.
• Philip Larkin: Grounded Visionary - a paper by Brendan McNamee (Queen's University, Belfast) from Durham University's Postgraduate English magazine.

Books - and audiobooks

• High Windows - the current set text for AQA AS Level English Literature Specification A (LTA3).
• High Windows is also available as a Penguin/Faber Audiobook read by Alan Bennett, which should be worth listening to.
• The Whitsun Weddings is probably Larkin's best-known collection.
• Andrew Motion: Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life - this biography by the current Poet Laureate caused some controvery because of its revelations about Larkin's private life and opinions. Probably not helpful if fed undiluted to students for LTA3 (context is not assessed)!
• Stephen Regan (editor): Philip Larkin (New Casebooks Series) - the publishers say: "The essays in this volume abandon the tired cliches of an older critical consensus and offer a lively, provocative response to such issues as sexual politics, national identity and post-colonialism in the work of a writer widely regarded as the best Poet Laureate Britain never had."
• Tom Courtenay's compilation, Pretending to Be Me: Philip Larkin, a Portrait is one of those times, said Sue Arnold in The Guardian, "when the right audio beats a book hands down".