Global InformationPhilip Larkin information
Philip Larkin CH CBE FRSL | |
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 Portrait by Fay Godwin, 1970 | |
| Born | Philip Arthur Larkin 9 August 1922 Coventry, England |
| Died | 2 December 1985 (aged 63) Kingston upon Hull, England |
| Resting place | Cottingham municipal cemetery 53°47′00.98″N 0°25′50.19″W / 53.7836056°N 0.4306083°W |
| Monuments | Bronze statue, Martin Jennings (2010, Hull Paragon Interchange station) |
| Occupation |
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| Alma mater | St John's College, Oxford |
| Employer | University of Hull (from 1955) |
| Notable works |
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Philip Arthur Larkin CH CBE FRSL (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, The North Ship, was published in 1945, followed by two novels, Jill (1946) and A Girl in Winter (1947). He came to prominence in 1955 with the publication of his second collection of poems, The Less Deceived, followed by The Whitsun Weddings (1964) and High Windows (1974). He contributed to The Daily Telegraph as its jazz critic from 1961 to 1971, with his articles gathered in All What Jazz: A Record Diary 1961–71 (1985), and edited The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse (1973).[1] His many honours include the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.[2] He was offered, but declined, the position of Poet Laureate in 1984, following the death of Sir John Betjeman.
After graduating from Oxford University in 1943 with a first in English Language and Literature, Larkin became a librarian. It was during the thirty years he worked with distinction as university librarian at the Brynmor Jones Library at the University of Hull that he produced the greater part of his published work. His poems are marked by what Andrew Motion calls "a very English, glum accuracy" about emotions, places, and relationships, and what Donald Davie described as "lowered sights and diminished expectations". Eric Homberger (echoing Randall Jarrell) called him "the saddest heart in the post-war supermarket"—Larkin himself said that deprivation for him was "what daffodils were for Wordsworth".[3] Influenced by W. H. Auden, W. B. Yeats, and Thomas Hardy, his poems are highly structured but flexible verse forms. They were described by Jean Hartley, the ex-wife of Larkin's publisher George Hartley (the Marvell Press), as a "piquant mixture of lyricism and discontent".[4] Anthologist Keith Tuma writes that there is more to Larkin's work than its reputation for dour pessimism suggests.[5]
Larkin's public persona was that of the no-nonsense, solitary Englishman who disliked fame and had no patience for the trappings of the public literary life.[6] The posthumous publication by Anthony Thwaite in 1992 of his letters triggered controversy about his personal life and political views, described by John Banville as hair-raising but also in places hilarious.[6] Lisa Jardine called him a "casual, habitual racist, and an easy misogynist", but the academic John Osborne argued in 2008 that "the worst that anyone has discovered about Larkin are some crass letters and a taste for porn softer than what passes for mainstream entertainment".[7] Despite the controversy, Larkin was chosen in a 2003 Poetry Book Society survey, almost two decades after his death, as Britain's best-loved poet of the previous 50 years, and in 2008 The Times named him Britain's greatest post-war writer.[8]
In 1973 a Coventry Evening Telegraph reviewer referred to Larkin as "the bard of Coventry",[9] but in 2010, 25 years after his death, it was Larkin's adopted home city, Kingston upon Hull, that commemorated him with the Larkin 25 Festival,[10] which culminated in the unveiling of a statue of Larkin by Martin Jennings on 2 December 2010, the 25th anniversary of his death.[11][12][13] On 2 December 2016, the 31st anniversary of his death, a floor stone memorial for Larkin was unveiled at Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.[14]
- ^ Philip Arthur Larkin Archived 27 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 12 November 2009.
- ^ Sleeve note, Letters to Monica, Faber 2010.
- ^ Motion 2005, pp. 208–209; Chatterjee 2006, p. 19 (for Donald Davie).
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
poetryarchive1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Tuma 2001, p. 445.
- ^ a b Banville 2006.
- ^ Cooper 2004, p. 1, for Lisa Jardine; Osborne 2008, p. 15.
- ^ Larkin is nation's top poet, BBC News, 23 October 2003; The 50 greatest British writers since 1945 at the Wayback Machine (archived 11 May 2008), The Times, 5 January 2008.
- ^ a poet "with feet firmly on the ground," Coventry Evening Telegraph, 15 November 1973, p.17
- ^ "The Toads Are In town". Larkin 25. Archived from the original on 13 October 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
- ^ "Philip Larkin statue unveiled in Hull". BBC News Online. BBC. 2 December 2010. Archived from the original on 5 December 2010. Retrieved 7 December 2010.
- ^ "Philip Larkin statue at Paragon Station". Larkin 25. Archived from the original on 13 January 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2010.
- ^ "Bronze tribute depicts Philip Larkin rushing for train at Paragon". Hull Daily Mail. 3 December 2010. Archived from the original on 11 December 2010. Retrieved 7 December 2010.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Poets Cornerwas invoked but never defined (see the help page).