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 variety of intimidation, until I read his
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 spring, his relationship with Ruth Bowman had come to an end, the
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, Faber, 2005) enormously enjoyed noting the obvious – that the young writer had not
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, it was originally titled ‘As Good as a Mile’. On the
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 highly, since the poem was only published after Larkin’s death (and nearly forty years after
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 true. To some extent the distinction probably reflected his private feelings about different poems,
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. Here, Larkin is almost anarchic in his deliberately crude choice of
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 people who knew Larkin speak of his sense
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 great poem, it is constantly referenced and deeply revered: for many, an unnervingly unambiguous work of art.
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 and in his own words, is intended to be both horrific and funny. Larkin is a poet
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 facility with register that launched a thousand imitations. Many readers are encouraged to read
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. Of all Larkin’s major poems it seems to get mentioned the
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 poetry he was desperately trying not to write in his
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 but with his mother (I presume) and himself
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 image of “shaking” “flowered frocks” whose femininity is mocked by their “moustache” demonstrates Larkin’s humourous
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 I am obsessed with butterflies as a symbol; baffled because I could
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 elderly into moving into nursing homes where the space is
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. It’s is a poem about men behaving badly that positively revels in
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 comments on his own poems are frequently misleading and need to be
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 Larkin elegiacally to an England somewhere in the
