Book Description
Philip Larkin's Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century English Verse provoked controversy and dispute on first publication in 1973.Warmly welcomed by fellow poets John Betjeman and W.H. Auden, it was also considered a quirky and idiosyncratic collection by some critics. Today it is recognized as a fine and wide-ranging selection of modern verse, valuable not least because it reflects the tastes of one of the best, and best-loved, English poets of the twentieth century.As the successor to W.B. Yeats's Oxford Book of Modern Verse 1892-1935, this anthology made a radical re-assessment of the century's achievement in poetry; it represented verse that was `lighter in tone, more understated, more casual, more conversational, more colloquial, in a way more democratic and more domestic than it was for Yeats'.It also introduced many little-known poets whose names have not entered the canon, and whose contributions add colour and depth to the anthology. As Philip Larkin writes in his Preface, in choosing poems rather than individuals he has brought together `poems that will give pleasure to their readers both separately and as a collection'.For this latest reissue, the poet's biographer Andrew Motion has written a new Foreword in which he considers the nature of Larkin as editor. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Of Limited, but Considerable, Interest
This is a bad anthology to introduce someone to 20.c. poetry; the selections of many important poets are both too idiosyncratic and too meagre. Besides, the first half of the book includes lots of vaguely interesting doggerel of questionable poetic value.

On the other hand, there are several things to be said for it. The first is that Larkin put in a lot of good stuff that is not usually anthologised. Among the inspired selections are Auden's "No Change of Place", "Brussels in Winter" and "Goodbye to the Mezzogiorno"; Kipling's "McAndrew's Hymn"; Edward Thomas's "Team's Head-Brass"; Empson's "Success" and the whole Betjeman section. But most of his selections from particular authors are sensible and predictable. He is very conservative with Eliot and Yeats. Yeats also gets too little space -- 20 pp. as opposed to 24 for Auden and 30 for Eliot. It's nice to see that Larkin has picked some of his own stuff; it's more or less what you'd expect him to have picked, though. Some of his choices are weird -- Peter Porter's "Annotations on Auschwitz" is represented by its clever but not quite self-contained last quatrain -- and of course most of the (many) poems chosen from the early 1900s are not very good.

This anthology also functions as a record of Larkin's taste and sense of the poetic tradition of his time, and yields a few parallels with his own poetic practice. There's also an interesting find: J.B.S. Haldane's poem titled "Cancer's a funny thing", for instance, which is the source of the line in Auden's "Miss Gee".

Another thing to note about this anthology is that the 1960s were less disconnected from the pre-war era than our generation is, and probably more capable of understanding its verse and appreciating it. Most of the writers of that period -- Davies, Gibson, Masefield, Young -- are now hardly read except in anthologies like this, and it's good and perhaps important that they should be read.

Larkin's Book of Twentieth-Century Poetry
Readers of Larkin's excellent letters will have come across frequent complaints about his 'Oxford Book of Two Cent Verse' as he dismissivly calls it. Although he found the task of producing it onerous, it's very good -- if one accepts it for what it is.

Anthologies, having limited space, make a choice between representing the best writers at length, or representing a larger number of writers more briefly. Larkin chooses the latter:the book includes 584 poems by about 200 poets, which this means that many poets (outside the "greats" -- Hardy, Yeats and Eliot -- who are all fully represented) are represented by as little as two poems.

But thisapproach has virtues. Larkin includes poems by many poets who aren't considered "major writers"; and who, while often well-known in their lives, are not likely to be known to readers now. This is interesting, of course, as it reminds a reader that poets are not only influenced by the best writers, but also by the second best. There is also, perhaps, an attempt here to sketch a certain tradition of English twentieth century writing: one that, although it includes Eliot and Basil Bunting, is in the main, colloquial, unheroic and keen to document domestic events and emotions in poetry that is, if not strictly formal, at least nodding at formal arrangement.

Lovers of Larkin, or of the sort of poetry outlined above, may well find themselves overjoyed by this anthology. Readers whose tastes are for the outlandish, excessive and outragous may be impatient. Personally I think that poetry is at its healthiest when these two groups are not entirely separated: when they both can agree on certain writers to admire; and when both of them at least are aware of and respect the other's tastes.

Perhaps people who find themselves entirely in accord with this anthology should also look at Rosenthal's 'Poetry in English' -- a dull name but a fantastic anthology -- for an alternative view of Twentieth Century poetry. (And perhaps, for fuller coverage of the post-1960s poets, Lucie-Smith's 'British Poetry Since 1945'; and for a look at where this alternative English tradition can lead to, Crozier and Longville's 'A Various Art' or Sinclair's 'Conductors of Chaos'.) And for the opposite group: this anthology, with the reminder that Pound, the key figure in the Modernist movement, thought very highly of the key poetic figure in Larkin's English tradition, Thomas Hardy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Oddly uninspired given his previous work.
Philip Larkin, High Windows (Faber, 1974)

Larkin, the celebrated librarian-poet, got somewhat cranky in his middle age. He also got more experimental, both qualities that make for fine poetry. Add to these scurrilousness, a wicked sense of humor, and an ear for rhythm matched only in the modern world's finest poets, and you have a recipe for greatness.

So why doesn't Larkin always pull it off? Good question. When he's on, he's very, very on, but when he's off, it's a mess. Unlike most poets, Larkin seems to have been able to switch back and forth between formal and free verse at will a number of times, but he did make the grade-school gaffe of trying to combine the two more than once. And a good deal of his "politically incorrect" (for lack of a better term) poetry smacks more of the juvenile than the Shakespearean:

"Jan von Hogspeuw staggers to the door
And pisses at the dark. Outside, the rain
Courses in cart-ruts down the deep mud land.
Inside, Dirk Dogstoerd pours himself some more..."
("The Card-Players")

Despite these excursions into the ridiculous, however, Larkin does still exhibit his mastery more often than not in this slim volume, and it's worth picking up either for the established Larkin fan or the newcomer who wonders what happened to metrical poetry after World War II. ***

Make time!
Phillip Larkin rocks.When I was a sophmore in college I burned down my dorm room and my copy of High Windows.It was truly tragic. This slim little volume contains some of Larkin's best work.It is wry, revealing,and sardonic in true Larkin fashion.I particularly like the title poemand None of the Books Have Time.Also, there's one in there about thestubborn stupidity of old folks that is absolutely delightful and hilariousthough the title escapes me at the moment.Anyway, this small book thatwon't take up either much time to read or much space on the shelf is adelightful and highly recommended piece.One of my all-time favorites. ... Read more

Book Description
Larkin's poems are often regarded as falling somewhere between the traditional "plain" and the more contemporary "postmodern" categories. This study undertakes a comprehensive linguistic and historical study of the plain style tradition in poetry, its relationship with so-called "difficult" poetry, and its particular realization in the cultural and historical context of 20th-century Britain. The author examines the nature of poetry as a type of discourse, the elements of, and factors in, the development of literary styles, a close rhetorical examination of Larkin's poems within the described poetic frameworks, and his position in the British 20th-century poetic canon. ... Read more

Book Description
This second revised and enlarged edition covers all Larkin's published work to the end of 1994-including Selected Letters and Collected Poems. The listing of critical material is much extended owing to the explosion of interest in Larkin's poetry after his death.Every section has been brought up to date and the few omissions from the first edition have been repaired, making this the only comprehensive bibliography on Philip Larkin.

Barry C. Bloomfield was a professional librarian and retired in 1990 as Director of Collection Development at the British Library.

Co-published with The British Library. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

That which survives
My introduction to Philip Larkin and his collection of verse,' The Whitsun Weddings' I owe to my friend David Evennett, one-time Member of Parliament for Erith and Crayford. Back when I was researcher for a Member of Parliament, I had an avocation as a poet. David discovered this, and recommended Larkin as a poetic voice worthy of attention. (His researcher acted surprised, blurting out loud much to our amusement, 'And here I always took you for a Philistine!') I have been grateful ever since, as I frequently return to this slim volume of verse for inspiration and reflection.

'Whitsun Weddings' includes 32 poems. A small book first published in 1964, it has proven so popular (something rare in poetry circles) that it has been reprinted four times during the 1970s, four times during the 1980s, and continues to be reprinted periodically up to the present day.

John Betjeman, one-time poet laureate of England, once commented of Larkin that 'this tenderly observant poet writes clearly, rhythmically, and thoughtfully about what all of us can understand.' This is the key to Larkin's verse -- accessibility. There are no obvious poetical devices that overpower the meaning or the language; there are no forced schemes, however brilliantly executed, that impose themselves on the reader. The gentle rhythms carry the reader like a slow-moving train on a well-cushioned track.

The poem 'Mr. Bleaney' is the one David first drew attention to when I brought in the small book a few days after his recommendation.

But if he stood and watched the frigid wind
Tousling the clouds, lay on the fusty bed
Telling himself that this was home, and grinned,
And shivered, without shaking off the dread
That how we live measures our own nature,
And at his age having no more to show
Than one hired box should make him pretty sure
He warranted no better, I don't know.

These words resonate with me at different times in my life, as they did with David. There is a desire to make someone of oneself, to have something to show for one's life. In the development of Mr. Bleaney's life, and his successor in the rented room, one can take stock and reappraise one's own life. What is the value, and how is it calculated?

Larkin's poetry frequently turns to the matter of religion and spirituality, without getting overly fussy or remote. In the poem Water, Larkin gives a very brief description of a spirit-freeing and pluralistic yet communal experience.

Larkin addresses the issues of age and youth, of love and loneliness, of despair and hope, all within the space of these 32 wonderful poems. The poem 'Wild Oats' incorporates all of these themes in one compact, bittersweet tale of life. Who could fail to wonder at the matter-of-fact and poignant description of the man who couldn't commit to one woman, having met only briefly her more beautiful friend, and seven years later is still unable to forget? The poem `A Study of Reading Habits' likewise, dealing with dreams conjured up through reading during youth gone the way of reality in middle age, ending with a too-familiar sour-grapes feeling, `Books are a load of crap'.

Of course, I mustn't neglect the title piece, 'The Whitsun Weddings'. Perfectly capturing mood and manner of weddings, the routine and the cycle of life, Larkin in fact uses the image of travelling by rail as a subtle motif for the journey through life, the Whitsun Weddings being a stop through which many (a dozen couples in this poem) proceed on their way to lives that will be lived out in `London spread out like the sun / Its postal districts packed like squares of wheat.'

Larkin's final word in this collection is a very worthy word -- one that will preach, in the words of a cleric friend of mine -- and one that brings to very sweet encapsulation his image of the Arundel Tomb, carefully and tenderly drawn for us in words, evoking images of when it was first created to how it is perceived today in its state of weathered testimony of the couple buried together:

Their final blazon, and to prove
Our almost-instinct almost true:
What will survive of us is love.

This particular volume pairs the 'Whitsun Weddings' with his earlier work, 'The Less Deceived', first published in 1955.This work was the one that established Larkin as an 'up-and-coming voice' in English poetry.He was part of 'The Movement' (which also included writers such as Kingsley Amis and Thom Gunn), which avoided sentimentality that was more typical of Romantic poetry.Emotion and wordcraft are still strongly present, but imagery is more grounded and real, less flowery and impressionistic.

There are connections here, and not just stylistically.Larkin's poem 'Toads' (reflections on working life) in the earlier work is connected to 'Toads Revisited' in the later 'Whitsun Weddings'.Touches such as these keep the ideas going across time.
... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from New Criterion, published by Foundation for Cultural Review on June 1, 2004. The length of the article is 5088 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Stouthearted men.(Verse chronicle)(poems of George Oppen, Franz Wright, Tony Hoagland and Spencer Reece and Philip Larkin)
Author: William Logan
Publication: New Criterion (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 1, 2004
Publisher: Foundation for Cultural Review
Volume: 22Issue: 10Page: 60(8)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from New Criterion, published by Foundation for Cultural Review on February 1, 2005. The length of the article is 4478 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Philip Larkin's "element".(Critical Essay)
Author: Dan Jacobson
Publication: New Criterion (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 1, 2005
Publisher: Foundation for Cultural Review
Volume: 23Issue: 6Page: 14(7)

Article Type: Critical Essay

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more