Philip Larkin
Philip Larkin
Philip Arthur Larkin CH CBE FRSLwas an English poet, novelist and librarian. His first book of poetry, The North Ship, was published in 1945, followed by two novels, Jilland A Girl in Winter, and he came to prominence in 1955 with the publication of his second collection of poems, The Less Deceived, followed by The Whitsun Weddingsand High Windows. He contributed to The Daily Telegraph as its jazz critic from 1961 to 1971, articles gathered in All What Jazz: A...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth9 August 1922
retirement young retiring
You can't put off being young until you retire.
writing pity good-authors
There is bad in all good authors: what a pity the converse isn't true!
happens
Something, like nothing, happens anywhere.
writing kind fantasy
Dear, I can't write, it's all a fantasy: a kind of circling obsession.
life-is breaths
...the breath that sharpens life is life itself...
running eye solitude
Beneath it all, desire of oblivion runs: Despite the artful tensions of the calendar, The life insurance, the tabled fertility rites, The costly aversion of the eyes from death- Beneath it all, desire of oblivion runs.
writing sleep organization
I can't understand these chaps who go round American universities explaining how they write poems: It's like going round explaining how you sleep with your wife.
marriage married get-away
He married a woman to stop her getting away Now she's there all day.
A good poem about failure is a success.
doctors light sky
Slowly light strengthens, and the room takes shape. It stands plain as a wardrobe, what we know, Have always known, know that we can't escape, Yet can't accept. One side will have to go. Meanwhile telephones crouch, getting ready to ring In locked-up offices, and all the uncaring Intricate rented world begins to rouse. The sky is white as clay, with no sun. Work has to be done. Postmen like doctors go from house to house.
practice ifs
Life has a practice of living you, if you don't live it.
I didn't choose poetry: poetry chose me.
children growing-up simple
Above all, though, children are linked to adults by the simple fact that they are in process of turning into them. For this they may be forgiven much. Children are bound to be inferior to adults, or there is no incentive to grow up.
writing thinking people
I think writing about unhappiness is probably the source of my popularity, if I have any - after all, most people are unhappy, don't you think?