By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Cut Grass’ is one of the shortest famous poems by Philip Larkin (1922-85). Completed in June 1971, the poem was published in Larkin’s last volume of poems, High Windows, in 1974. It’s a short lyric about newly cut grass, hovering between celebration and mourning. In this post, we discuss the poem and offer a brief analysis of its language and themes.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘First Sight’ is a short poem written by Philip Larkin in 1956, and published in his 1964 collection The Whitsun Weddings. Unusually for Larkin, it is a rather upbeat poem, a beautiful lyric about the natural world. Read on for our analysis of this wonderfully affirmative poem.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Going’, originally titled ‘Dying Day’, is one of Philip Larkin’s earliest mature poems, written in 1946 and published in his 1955 volume The Less Deceived. At once plain-spoken and strangely elusive, ‘Going’ is a lyric about one of the most common themes of Larkin’s poetry: death.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘The Large Cool Store’, Philip Larkin recalled in the recording of The Whitsun Weddings he completed, was called a ‘silly poem about nighties’.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Completed in August 1953, ‘Days’ is one of Philip Larkin’s shortest poems. Like many of his poems, its meaning seems obvious, its words asking to be taken at face value; but, as with Larkin’s great poetic mentor, Thomas Hardy, upon further analysis the poem is revealed as elusive and ambiguous. What is ‘Days’ about?