Larkin was born on 9 August 1922 as Philip Arthur Larkin in Coventry.
He spent his childhood at King Henry VIII School, writing from a young
age and publishing his first poem in the school publication, The Coventrian
. Back to Top
1940-1945
Larkin "went up" to St John's College, Oxford, in October 1940. He studied English Language and Literature. His first publication outside
of school was 'Ultimatum' which appeared in the magazine Listener on
28 November 1940. The University periodical, Cherwell, published 'Story' on 13 February
1941.
In January 1942 Larkin failed an army medical examination and was deemed unfit
for military service. He suffered with poor eyesight all his life, an
"affliction" which ironically contributed to the iconography of Philip Larkin,
bespectacled librarian and misanthrope.
Larkin obtained a first-class degree in summer 1943, and spent much of the year penning verse and working on the novel which would eventually be published as Jill.
He found employment at Wellington Library, Shropshire, England in December 1943. His experiences there seem to have much resonance in his second novel, A
Girl in Winter.
Toward the end of 1944 Larkin completed work on Jill. In December, he
put together the Audenesque collection of poetry, The North Ship. The Fortune Press published The North Ship in July 1945, at which time
Larkin was tying together the last ends of A Girl in Winter.
By 1946, events in Larkin's private and public lives were accelerating rapidly. In September of this year, he was appointed Assistant Librarian at University College Leicester, England. Jill was published in October '46, by the
Fortune Press. Jill describes the experiences of a young man whose background has much in common with Larkin's own, going up to an Oxbridge college. Ringing with youthful vigour, the book is by turns comic, bleak, and obscure.
Indeed, many of its themes and tones foreshadow Larkin's later poetry, being written in a voice which is ironically more in tune with the later Larkin than that of the poetry he had published by the end of the war.
In February 1947, A Girl in Winter was published- arguably reflecting an
growing literary stature- by Faber and Faber. By the end of this year, he had submitted a volume of poetry entitled In the
Grip of Light to a number of established Publishing Houses (including Faber and Faber) via his agent.
To Larkin's dismay, this collection was rejected by each of the publishers he had approached. It is ironic that Grip of Light heralded the emergence of Larkin's poetic voice. The already-published North Ship paled in comparison, derivative and unfocussed.
Undaunted, Larkin persevered in verse, whilst his personal circumstances changed once more. In September 1950, Larkin relocated to Belfast, Northern Ireland, to take up
the post of Sub-Librarian at Queen's University.
Larkin's struggle to find a public outlet for his poetry is reflected in the fact that he had a collection entitled XX Poems- many of which had been included in the ill-starred Grip of Light- printed privately by a Belfast firm in April 1951. Back to Top
1953-1956
Between 1953 and 1954, Larkin's poetic fortunes underwent and upturn. The BBC broadcast the poem 'If, My Darling' on 'First Reading', presented by John Wain, on 1 July 1953. The Spectator published 'Wires' on 2 October 1953.
In the same year, five of Larkin's poems appeared in an
anthology entitled Springtime. The Fantasy Poets No. 21, published in March 1954, included five poems by Larkin
whilst one appeared in Listen magazine.
The first collection of 'mature' verse was entitled The Less Deceived and published in November 1955, by George Hartley, owner of the tiny Marvell Press.
Also in this year, Larkin was appointed to the post to which he would be attached until his death in 1985, and with which he is most famously associated.
Of the town of Hull, in remotest Northern England, he quipped to a friend before taking up the position of Librarian at the University of Hull:
I expect you'll wonder why I'm going there: well, I hardly know myself.
In January 1956, eight of Larkin's poems appeared in Poets of the 1950's, along with
a comment on poetry. Nine were included in New Lines.
By now, Larkin was working as a poetry reviewer for the Manchester Guardian. He
indulged a lifelong passion when he began reviewing jazz records for the Daily
Telegraph the following year.
It was not until February 1964 that Larkin's next major work, The Whitsun Weddings,
published by Faber and Faber. The same company reissued Jill shortly later, with
a new author's introduction.
Two accolades were granted Larkin in 1965, the Arts Council Triennial Award for Poetry
and the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.
In 1966, Faber reissued The North Ship and once more Larkin provided a new
introduction.
Three years later, Larkin's talent was recognised with the award of an Honorary Doctorate
by Queen's University Belfast.
Faber published a collection of jazz reviews in 1970. It was called All What Jazz.
Between this year and 1974, Larkin was involved in various projects as well
as penning further verse. He edited The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century Verse,
which the Clarendon Press published in March 1973. After spending time as an Visiting Fellow
at All Souls, Oxford, Larkin was recognised by "his" college, St John's,
who accorded him an Honorary Fellowship.
June 1974 saw what was to be Larkin's last major poetical work, High Windows,
arguably his crowning glory.
Gradually, Larkin's poetic muse deserted him, although a steady stream of awards
and fellowships flowed his way in recognition of his uniquely modern talents.
Commissioned and occasional pieces continued to appear sporadically but Larkin
himself acknowledged the creative evaporation, as though a tap had been turned
off.
A final volume, containing diverse pieces, appeared in 1983, entitled Required
Writing. It won the W H Smith Award.
Having struggled with ill health for the last months of his life, and having undergone
an operation on his oesophagus in June 1985, Larkin finally succumbed to what he
had dubbed "the only end of age" on 2 December 1985.
He was 63 years old.
