April 2008 Nomination: I dreamed of an out-thrust arm of land [1943. From The North Ship] I used to be inclined to take Philip Larkin’s remark that his rhymes more or less find themselves as a [...]

March 2008 Nomination: Sinking like sediment through the day [13 May 1949. From Collected Poems (1988)] May 1949, the month this poem was written, found Larkin at an emotional low ebb. That [...]

November 2007 Nomination: Could wish to lose hands [before September 1940. From Philip Larkin: Early Poems and Juvenilia] Many reviewers of Philip Larkin: Early Poems and Juvenil (Ed. A T Tolley, [...]

October 2007 Nomination: As Bad as a Mile [9 February 1960. From The Whitsun Weddings] When ‘As Bad as a Mile’ was first published in the University of Buffalo’s Audit magazine in February 1960, [...]

September 2006 Nomination: Neurotics [March–April 1949. From Collected Poems (1988)] What surprises me most about ‘Neurotics’ is that fact that its author doesn’t seem to have valued it very [...]

August 2006 Nomination: Waiting for breakfast, while she brushed her hair [15 December 1947. From XX Poems and The North Ship (1966)] Larkin famously divided his poems into the beautiful and the [...]

July 2006 Nomination: This Be The Verse [April ? 1971. From High Windows] For me, ‘This Be The Verse’, with its tort timing and unambiguous accessibility, epitomizes all that poetry should be. [...]

June 2006 Nomination: Posterity [17 June 1968. From High Windows] There are so many of Philip Larkin’s poems I could select as my poem of the month, but one I must mention is ‘Posterity’. Several [...]

May 2006 Nomination: Aubade [29 November 1977. The Times Literary Supplement 23 December 1977] ‘Aubade’ was published in the Times Literary Supplement in December, 1977. Regarded as his last [...]

April 2006 Nomination: Sunny Prestatyn [October 1962? From The Whitsun Weddings] ‘Sunny Prestatyn’ from Larkin’s second collection The Whitsun Weddings is perhaps the nearest he gets to pop-art [...]

March 2006 Nomination: Church Going [28 July 1954. From The Less Deceived] ‘Church Going’, from Larkin’s 1955 collection The Less Deceived, stands out as a masterpiece of rhetoric, introducing a [...]

February 2006 Nomination: The Building [9 February 1972. From High Windows] Looking down the list of previously chosen ‘Poems of the Month’ it was no surprise to find ‘The Building’ wasn’t there. [...]

January 2006 Nomination: The School in August [1943 From Collected Poems (1988)] The School in August is, I think, the best of Larkin’s early poems, and the least typical. This is the kind of [...]

December 2005 Nomination: Reference Back [21 August 1955. From The Whitsun Weddings] I love the way Larkin likens music to time, how he ‘bridges’ the gap so to speak not just with music and time [...]

November 2005 Nomination: Faith Healing [10 May 1960. From The Whitsun Weddings] “Moustached in flowered frocks they shake” is surely a line which perfectly describes feminine limitations. This [...]

October 2005 Nomination: Butterflies [Winter? 1938–9. From Philip Larkin Early Poems & Juvenilia] The first time I read this poem I felt excited and baffled at the same time: excited because [...]

September 2005 Nomination: Love Songs in Age [1 January 1957. From The Whitsun Weddings] I love this poem because its opening line reminds me so much of the trauma related to assisting the [...]

August 2005 Nomination: The Card Players [6 May 1970. From High Windows] The aspect of ‘The Card-Players’ that I find most beguiling is its celebration of raw, earthy and unfettered maleness. [...]

July 2005 Nomination: Dublinesque [6 June 1970. From High Windows] Philip Larkin told Maeve Brennan that ‘Dublinesque’ was “a dream – I just woke up and described it”. Of course, Larkin’s [...]

June 2005 Nomination: Cut Grass [3 June 1971. From High Windows] This is sometimes thought as in some ways a companion piece to ‘The Trees’, Poem of the Month for May 2005 and another tying [...]