A reading of Larkin’s classic Hull poem Philip Larkin (1922-85) completed his poem ‘Here’ in October 1961, and it was included (as the opening poem) in his 1964 collection The Whitsun Weddings. The poem describes and, in its distinctively Larkinesque way, celebrates the city of Hull, where Larkin had been […]
Tag: Philip Larkin
A Short Analysis of Philip Larkin’s ‘Sympathy in White Major’
A reading of a Larkin poem ‘Sympathy in White Major’ contains perhaps the most mouth-watering description of someone making a gin and tonic to be found in all English poetry. But it is also, like many Philip Larkin poems, about the relation between the self and society, between the individual […]
A Short Analysis of Philip Larkin’s ‘Mr Bleaney’
A reading of a classic Larkin poem Philip Larkin completed ‘Mr Bleaney’ in May 1955, and it appeared nine years later in his third major volume of poems, The Whitsun Weddings (1964). The poem is about a professional man renting a room in a woman’s house, and musing on the […]
A Short Analysis of Philip Larkin’s ‘Send No Money’
A reading of Larkin’s poem How we should analyse Philip Larkin’s poetry depends on what phase of his career we’re dealing with. In ‘Send No Money’, Larkin examines the gulf between our expectations of the world and the somewhat less satisfying realities the world provides us with. It is also […]
A Short Analysis of Philip Larkin’s ‘Aubade’
By Dr Oliver Tearle An aubade – the term is from the French – is a song or poem in praise of the dawn, but Philip Larkin’s ‘Aubade’ is somewhat different. Although the meditation in the poem takes place during the early hours of the morning, there is none of […]