One of the best poetry collections I own

books:


	• Collected Poems Philip Larkin Farrar Straus & Giroux (T), 1989 average customer review:based on 31 reviews
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highly recommended

This be the verse

There are two different types of Larkin poem. The first type, mostly written before 1955, are influenced by Yeats and Auden and are mediocre. The second, written when he found his voice, are amongst the most wonderful works of English literature ever written.
So what was his voice? Basically that of twentieth century man - atheistic, obsessed with sex, regretting the loss of faith and the old certainties. He takes these subjects and turns them into glorious poems. But here's the really incredible thing: he uses ordinary, uncomplicated language. No tricks, no arcane allusions, just plain English.
It can't be denied that the voice is bleak, and it is too uncompromising for some. However, those who like looking into the heart of darkness will find poems which they will remember for the rest of their lives.

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Astounding

Perhaps Larkin has been somewhat overlooked because he wrote in rhymed verse and the past century has been increasingly focused on free verse. I generally favor free verse, myself, but Larkin's skill at rhyme is such that it is always unobtrusive, never strained or forced, and sometimes.

But, his modernity is indisputable, combining, and perhaps exceeding, the humanity of Auden as well as the perspicacity of Eliot.

His is clearly a concise body of work, but it is large in its range and insight. Larkin's poems often express an thought or feeling that the reader will recognize as a part of his own experience, finally put into words with the utmost clarity. He played his "tennis" with the net, but remained distinctly modern.

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One of the best poetry collections I own

Philip Larkin wrote some of the most perfect poems written in the English language, and this well-edited collection proves it. If that sounds like hyperbole, then you really need to get ahold of some of Larkin's poems ("Sad Steps" or "Church Going" are both good places to start). If they don't change your mind, then we have very different definitions of great poetry.

Though I'm willing to admit that his first book (which is included in this collection), The North Ship, is apprentice-work and isn't top-notch, every book after it is the work of a virtuoso, chock-full of original, insightful, and flawlessly crafted poetry.

Though Larkin might not be for the feint of heart (he has a rather dark take on the world, very similar to that of his poet-hero Thomas Hardy), his poems are brazenly honest, intelligent, funny, and inspired. And whether or not you agree with everything in them, his poems are still breathtaking, often celebratory works of art that need to be read to be believed.

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Easy beyond recognition

Some say Philip Larkin is not even a poet, but a kind of social observer. Perhaps they do not catch the richness hidden in a very simple verse or do not accept a non-obscure modern writer. This editon shows poems in chronological order, which is good, but lacks more information about Larkin.

A great poet, a great edition.

I have only recently discovered the poetry of Larkin, and his work is insightful, droll, sometimes depressing, but always engaging. He was not afraid of rhyming and using strict meters, and his poems are often beautiful because of, not despite, these elements of traditional poetic craft. A worthy addition to any bookshelf of top-flight poetry.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

One of the best-known, best-loved poets of the English-speaking world, Larkin had a relatively small number of poems published during his lifetime. This Collected Poems, which J. D. McClatchy called "a fascinating and indispensable text" in The New York Times Book Review, brings together not only all of Larkin's published verse?The North Ship (1945), the pamphlet of XX Poems (1953), The Less Deceived (1955), The Whitsun Weddings (1964), and High Windows (1974)?but also a vast selection of his uncollected poetry. A brief Introduction by Anthony Thwaite illuminates both the life and verse of this highly perceptive and deeply acerbic poet, a dour yet witty soul whose brilliant writings so often suggest an ongoing conflict between the traditional and the modern.

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