Advantages: Profound but down to Earth - a poetic genius... Disadvantages: You'll either love him or hate him!
...PhilipLarkin, an insight into the genius, the poet, the man…
I have to admit that when I first started to study Larkin for my A – levels, it was difficult not to curse him, let alone like him! On the surface, Larkin appears to be a misogynistic and sexist man with a supercilious eye for anything lower class. This, unfortunately has become the most popular attitude towards Larkin, however, I feel that this is not the case. After having studied only the poetry, it would be, I admit, easy to criticise Larkin, but you must go deeper than the words on the page in order to understand this mysterious but incredible writer, and that is what I intend to help people to do…
General Background:
PhilipLarkin was born in 1922 in Coventry. He grew up there and went to read English at Oxford University. For the remaining thirty years of his...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Stunning, meaningful poetry Disadvantages: Too small a book!
...My introduction to PhilipLarkin and his collection of verse,' The Whitsun Weddings' I owe to my friend David Evennett, one-time Member of Parliament for Erith and Crayford. Back when I was researcher for a Member of Parliament, I had an avocation as a poet, and had just published my first book of poetry. David discovered this, and recommended Larkin as a poetic voice worthy of attention. (His researcher acted surprised, blurting out loud much to our amusement, 'And here I always took you for a Philistine!') I have been grateful ever since, as I frequently return to this slim volume of verse for inspiration and reflection.
This volume of poetry includes 32 poems. A small book first published in 1964, it has proven so popular (something rare in poetry circles) that it has been reprinted four times during the 1970s, four times during...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Interesting and unique, superb writing and characters Disadvantages: Not for you if you prefer plot to character-driven stories
...PhilipLarkin is best-known for his poetry, although he wrote two novels: A Girl In Winter and Jill, both written in his mid-twenties. He was an interesting character, said to be obsessed with pornography and racist, although Martin Amis (Larkin was a close friend of Kingsley Amis) denies this. I was surprised to discover that Larkin was also a Jazz critic and a great fan of Thomas Hardy's poetry, and was instrumental in the re-evaluation of Hardy's poetry, which tends to be ignored in favour of his novels - despite Hardy seeing himself as a poet foremost, an author second. His being a fellow fan of Hardy, I softened to him slightly…
I studied The Whitsun Weddings (Larkin's most famous collection of poetry) at college and, although I could appreciate their superb structure and sharp insights, he was never going to be my favourite...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
helpful 08.12.2006
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