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.
happens
Something, like nothing, happens anywhere.
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.
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.
romantic death inspirational-love
What will survive of us is love.
dames life-is quirks
One of the quainter quirks of life is that we shall never know who dies on the dame day as we do ourselves.
poetry wordsworth deprivation
Deprivation is for me what daffodils were for Wordsworth.
time
What are days for? Days are where we live. They come, they wake us Time and time over. Theyare to be happy in: Where can we live but days?
always-trying people feels
I am always trying to 'preserve' things by getting other people to read what I have written, and feel what I felt.