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
writing trying poetry-is
It is fatal to decide, intellectually, what good poetry is because you are then in honour bound to try to write it, instead of the poems that only you can write.
thinking wish next
Saki says that youth is like hors d'oeuvres: you are so busy thinking of the next courses you don't notice it. When you've had them, you wish you'd had more hors d'oeuvres.
past poetry criticism
One of the great criticisms of poets of the past is that they said one thing and did another.
What are days for? Days are where we live.
art children life-is
I feel the only thing you can do about life is to preserve it, by art if you're an artist, by children if you're not.
men feet literature
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.
past men garden
Never such innocence, Never before or since, As changed itself to past Without a word--the men Leaving the gardens tidy, The thousands of marriages Lasting a little while longer: Never such innocence again.
age three should
Everyone should be forcibly transplanted to another continent from their family at the age of three.
thinking cushions subversive
I think we got much better poetry when it was all regarded as sinful or subversive, and you had to hide it under the cushion when somebody came in.
children grew hated
As a child, I thought I hated everybody, but when I grew up I realized it was just children I didn't like.
mean language ifs
A writer can have only one language, if language is going to mean anything to him.
home england excuse
Living in England has no such excuse: These are my customs and establishments....
love selfish enough
The difficult part of love Is being selfish enough....
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?