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Summary
The appearance of Philip Larkin’s second prose collection – reviews and critical assessments of writers and writing; pieces on jazz, mostly uncollected; some long, revealing and often highly entertaining interviews given on various occasions – was a considerable literary event. Stamped by wit, originality and intelligence, it was vintage Larkin throughout:
‘Deprivation is for me what daffodils were for Wordsworth.’
‘I see life more as an affair of solitude diversified by company than as an affair of company diversified by solitude.’
Q. ‘How did you arrive upon the image of a toad for work or labour?’
A. ‘Sheer genius.’
PhilipLarkin
Philip Larkin, poet, novelist and librarian, was born in Coventry in 1922. He published four volumes of poetry – The North Ship (1945), The Less Deceived (1955), The Whitsun Weddings (1964) and High Windows (1974) – for which he received innumerable honours including the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry and the WH Smith Award. He also wrote two novels, Jill (1946) and A Girl in Winter (1947), and his journalism is collected in two volumes, All…
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More books by Philip Larkin
Our poem of the week is 'Talking in Bed' by Philip Larkin, the title poem of our new essential pocket …
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This week, our Poem of the Week is ‘The Whitsun Weddings’ by Philip Larkin, the title poem from his much-loved …
Our Poem of the Week is ‘An Arundel Tomb’ by Philip Larkin, from his much-loved first collection with Faber, The …
Since its creation in 1925 Faber & Faber has always been based in or close to a Bloomsbury square, in …
For our book club selection this August, we revisit Philip Larkin’s much-loved collection of poems, The Whitsun Weddings.
A century after his birth, we mark the Philip Larkin centenary in 2022. To celebrate a new edition of his …
Celebrating our 90th anniversary, Faber staff take on the tricky task of selecting their three favourite Faber books.
In the Philip Larkin's centenary year, we republish an article remembering him by autobiographer and publisher Jean Hartley.