| − | A major modern poet,<ref>[http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/176]</ref> '''Philip Larkin''' was born 9th August 1922 in [[Coventry]], [[England]]. His poems are notable for their highly-structured but flexible verse forms<ref>[http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=7076]</ref> and their combination of simple direct language with acute social and spiritual observation. In 1943, he graduated with a First Class Honours in [[English]] from St. John’s College, [[Oxford University|Oxford]]. He trained as a librarian and spent most of his working life at the University of Hull, having taken the position of Librarian there in 1955. Larkin died of [[cancer]], aged 63, on 2nd December 1985.<ref>[http://www.philiplarkin.com/biog.htm]</ref> | + | A major modern poet,<ref>[http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/176]</ref> '''Philip Larkin''' was born 9th August 1922 in [[Coventry]], [[England]]. His poems are notable for their highly-structured but flexible verse forms<ref>[http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=7076]</ref> and their combination of simple direct language with acute social and spiritual observation. In 1943, he graduated with a First Class Honours in [[English]] from St. John’s College, [[Oxford University|Oxford]]. He trained as a librarian and spent most of his working life at the University of [[Hull]], having taken the position of Librarian there in 1955. Larkin died of [[cancer]], aged 63, on 2nd December 1985.<ref>[http://www.philiplarkin.com/biog.htm]</ref> |
| | He published five short volumes of verse in his lifetime, but considered the totality of his mature work<ref>[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18715]</ref> to be contained in ''The Less Deceived'' (1955), ''The Whitsun Weddings'' (1964) and ''High Windows'' (1974). He wrote little in the decade prior to his death<ref>[http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=7076]</ref> and frustration at this loss of inspiration may have contributed to the increasingly reactionary tone of his posthumously published letters.<ref>[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18715]</ref> | | He published five short volumes of verse in his lifetime, but considered the totality of his mature work<ref>[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18715]</ref> to be contained in ''The Less Deceived'' (1955), ''The Whitsun Weddings'' (1964) and ''High Windows'' (1974). He wrote little in the decade prior to his death<ref>[http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=7076]</ref> and frustration at this loss of inspiration may have contributed to the increasingly reactionary tone of his posthumously published letters.<ref>[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18715]</ref> |