Larkin, Philip (1922-1985), was an English poet, novelist, and jazz critic. He became a leading figure in the anti-Romantic movement that dominated English poetry in the mid-1900’s. The dominant theme of Larkin’s work is the poet’s isolation from a society that he feels to be misguided, but which he cannot change.
Larkin gained recognition as a poet with The Less Deceived (1955), in which he explored themes of childhood, death, and love in a witty and sophisticated style. Larkin’s later volumes of poetry include The Whitsun Weddings (1964) and High Windows (1974).
Philip Arthur Larkin was born on Aug. 9, 1922, in Coventry and studied at Oxford University. His university experiences provided material for his first novel, Jill (1946; revised edition, 1964). He also wrote a second novel, A Girl in Winter (1947). Larkin worked as a librarian at the University of Hull from 1955 to 1985. He was a jazz fan and served as jazz critic for an English newspaper from 1961 to 1971. His writings on jazz were collected in All What Jazz? (1970; revised edition, 1985). Larkin’s essays were published in Required Writing (1983). He died on Dec. 2, 1985. After Larkin’s death, his Collected Poems was published in 1988, and his The Complete Poems was published in 2012.
