September 2014 Nomination: As Bad As a Mile [9 February 1960. From The Whitsun Weddings] In the aftermath of the 2014 World Cup, sports journalist Barney Ronay in his Monday Guardian column cited the first four lines of this poem as a pretty fair summary
March 2013 Nomination: Long Sight in Age [20 June 1955. From The Complete Poems (2012)] The poem, ‘Long Sight in Age’, features as part of the extensive Larkin display in the Hull and East Riding Eye Hospital, opened in October 2012. It was written
February 2010 Nomination: Absences [28 November 1950. From The Less Deceived] Larkin thought of the last line as sounding ‘like a slightly unconvincing translation from a French symbolist’ – and surprisingly went on to say that he wished he could write like this
