Philip Larkin

Also known as Philip Arthur Larkin

English writer, jazz critic and librarian (1922-1985)

Person · Open Library

Born: 1922
Died: 1985
Works: 50

Top works

Korablʹ severa
Prentice Hall Literature--The British Tradition
Prentice Hall Literature--The British Edition--Volume II
Prentice Hall Literature - Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes - The British Tradition
La vida amb forat a dins. Poesia escollida

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Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Person
Gender: Male
Origin: United Kingdom
Active from: 1922
Active to: 1985

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Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners: 2,017
Total plays: 19,082

Philip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL, (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) 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. 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

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Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies.
· 2003 · cited 65,150x
Clustal W and Clustal X version 2.0
· 2007 · cited 24,850x
A global reference for human genetic variation
· 2015 · cited 17,413x
Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine
· 2020 · cited 13,886x
The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship
· 2016 · cited 13,882x

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Quotes

“What was the rock my gliding childhood struck, And what bright unreal path has led me here?”
“Life and literature is a question of what one thrills to, and further than that no man shall ever go without putting his foot in a turd.”
“If we seriously contemplate life it appears an agony too great to be supported, but for the most part our minds gloss such things over & until the ice finally lets us through we skate about merrily enough. Most people, I'm convinced, don't think about life at all. They grab what they think they want and the subsequent consequences keep them busy in an endless chain till they're carried out feet first.”
“To start at a new place is always to feel incompetent & unwanted.”
“You can look out of your life like a train & see what you're heading for, but you can't stop the train.”
“I never think of poetry or the poetry scene, only separate poems written by individuals.”

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Key facts

Born: Philip Arthur Larkin , ( 1922-08-09 ) 9 August 1922, Coventry , England
Died: 2 December 1985 (1985-12-02) (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 / 53.7836056; -0.4306083 ( Cottingham cemetery location of Philip Larkin's grave )
Monuments: Bronze statue, Martin Jennings (2010, Hull Paragon Interchange station )
Occupation: Poet librarian novelist jazz critic
Alma mater: University of Oxford
Employer: University of Hull (from 1955)
Notable works: The Whitsun Weddings (1964) High Windows (1974)

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Wikidata facts

Image: Philip Larkin by Humphrey Ocean.jpg

Show 5 more facts

Commons category: Philip Larkin
date of birth: 1922-08-09
date of death: 1985-12-02
name in native language: Philip Larkin
start of work period: 1945-00-00

Sources (8)

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~40 min read

Article

Philip Arthur Larkin (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). His many honours include the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. 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". 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". Anthologist Keith Tuma writes that there is more to Larkin's work than its reputation for dour pessimism suggests.