Philip Larkin

241 Pages·2010·1.09 MB·English

by  James Booth

Philip Larkin
The Poet’s Plight
James Booth
Philip Larkin
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10.1057/9780230595828 - Philip Larkin, James Booth
Also by James Booth
NEW LARKINS FOR OLD: Critical Essays (ed.)
PHILIP LARKIN: Writer
SYLLOGE OF COINS OF THE BRITISH ISLES 48: Northern Museums
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TROUBLE AT WILLOW GABLES AND OTHER FICTIONS by Philip Larkin (ed.) 1
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WRITERS AND POLITICS IN NIGERIA 11-
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10.1057/9780230595828 - Philip Larkin, James Booth
Philip Larkin
The Poet’s Plight
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James Booth 20
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10.1057/9780230595828 - Philip Larkin, James Booth
© James Booth 2005
All rights reserved.No reproduction,copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced,copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988,or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 15
90 Tottenham Court Road,London W1T 4LP. 03-
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1
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication 20
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. ct -
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The author has asserted his rights to be identified as the author of nn
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this work in accordance with the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988. C
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First published 2005 by gra
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN al
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Houndmills,Basingstoke,Hampshire RG21 6XS and o -
175 Fifth Avenue,New York,N.Y.10010 ms
Companies and representatives throughout the world Tro
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave et i
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Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States,United Kingdom bli
and other countries.Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European sbi
Union and other countries. sitet
ISBN-13:978–1–4039–1834–5 hardback ver
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ISBN-10:1–4039–1834–1 hardback U
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This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully d t
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managed and sustained forest sources. ns
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. m - li
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data o
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Booth,James,1945– ect.
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Philip Larkin :the poet’s plight / by James Booth. n
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p.cm. ec
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Includes bibliographical references and index. gra
ISBN 1–4039–1834–1 (cloth) al
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1.Larkin,Philip–Criticism and interpretation. I.Title. w.
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PR6023.A66Z55 2005 m
821′.914–dc22 2005043194 al fro
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Printed and bound in Great Britain by
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10.1057/9780230595828 - Philip Larkin, James Booth
Contents
Acknowledgements vii 15
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Abbreviations ix 11-
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1 The Poet’s Plight 1 ct -
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The delight of poetry 4 n
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Idiolect 6 ve
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Form and genre 11 gr
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Oeuvre 16 o -
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2 Poetry as a Living 21 o
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Professing poetry 21 et i
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Librarian-Poet 33 ote
Money 43 bibli
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3 Loves and Muses I 47 sit
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Life into art 47 niv
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‘Your mum’ 50 o
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The broken engagement 56 e
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Flirtation 66 ce
An affair 74 m - li
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4 Loves and Muses II 79 ct.
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‘My wife’ 79 on
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The long courtship 88 v
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A late fling 103 algr
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5 Poetic Histories 112 ww
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Time and history 112 o
Distances 118 al fr
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‘The Movement’ 122 at
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Dates 129 ht
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Politics 135 yri
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Place and nation 137 C
6 Living Rooms 144
Metaphor 144
Rooms 151
Parlour and attic 153
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10.1057/9780230595828 - Philip Larkin, James Booth
vi Contents
Home 156
Travelling coincidence 162
Death’s waiting-room 165
7 Empty Gestures 172
Larkin as elegist 172
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The elegiac 176 3-1
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Memento mori 178 11-
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Orpheus and Pan 185 ct - 2
Metaphorin extremis 188 ne
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Self-elegy 192 Co
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Last words 200 av
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Appendix: ‘Be my Valentine this Monday’ and ‘We met at o -
the end of the party’ 202 ms
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Notes 204 et i
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Bibliography 217 bliot
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Index 223 et
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10.1057/9780230595828 - Philip Larkin, James Booth
Acknowledgements
My thanks are due to Angela Leighton (Hull), ever my first and best 5
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reader. Suzanne Uniacke (Hull) also provided many exact insights. 0
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Douglas Dunn (St Andrews) and Janice Rossen read the typescript and 0
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made useful suggestions. ct -
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I am also grateful to Betty Mackereth, Winifred Dawson, Jean Hartley, n
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Father Anthony Storey, the late Maeve Brennan, and the late Monica e
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Jones, for generously sharing with me their insights into the Larkin gr
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they knew. o -
Larkin’s literary executors, Andrew Motion and Anthony Thwaite ms
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hSoacviee tbye eonf cAounthstoarnst hina s thbeeiern e nhceolpufrualg eamt eenvte rayn ds taJegree.m My yC trhowan kosf tahree ket i Tr
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due also to Judy Burg (Hull University Archivist) and the staff of the bliot
Brynmor Jones Library, Hull. sbi
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Numerous other friends and colleagues have helped with specific sit
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points: Jonathan Sawday (Strathclyde), Antony Rowland (Salford), Diana, niv
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Duchess of Hamilton, Edna Longley (Queen’s University, Belfast), John o
Carey (Merton, Oxford), Judith Priestman (Bodleian Library), Martine ed t
s
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Semblat (Dijon), Danielle Pinkstein (Paris X), Elena Miraglia (Rome), ce
Raphaël Ingelbien (Leuven), István Rácz (Debrecen), Stephen Regan m - li
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(Durham), Stephen Cooper, Philip Weaver, Linda Hart, and my col- ct.c
leagues at the University of Hull, particularly Graham Chesters, Rowlie ne
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Wymer, Valerie Sanders, John Hoyles, John Osborne, Jane Thomas and c
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John Howarth. gra
My fellow members on the Committee of the Philip Larkin Society pal
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have been most supportive, in particular Don Lee, Edwin Dawes, Carole ww
Collinson, Jim Orwin, Belinda Hakes and Paul Walker. om
I must also thank the Arts and Humanities Research Board for a al fr
Research Leave Award which made the completion of this book possible. ateri
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The author and publishers acknowledge the following permissions to ht
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reprint copyright material: yri
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Previously unpublished material by Philip Larkin: Copyright © Co
2005 The Estate of Philip Larkin. By permission of the Society of
Authors as the literary representative of the Estate of Philip Larkin.
Quotations from ‘Lines on a Young Lady’s Photograph Album’,
‘Wedding-Wind’, ‘Places’, ‘Loved Ones’, ‘Dry-Point’, ‘Next, Please’,
‘Going’, ‘Wants’, ‘Maiden Name’, ‘Whatever Happened?’ ‘No Road’,
vii
10.1057/9780230595828 - Philip Larkin, James Booth
viii Acknowledgements
‘Church Going’, ‘Toads’, ‘Poetry of Departures’, ‘Spring’, ‘Deceptions’, ‘I
Remember, I Remember’, ‘Absences’, ‘Latest Face’, ‘If, My Darling’ and
‘At Grass’ by Philip Larkin are reprinted from The Less Deceivedby per-
mission of the Marvell Press, England and Australia.
Faber and Faber Limited and Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc.:
Excerpts from Collected Poems by Philip Larkin. Copyright © 1988, 5
1
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1989 the Estate of Philip Larkin. 0
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Excerpts from Selected Lettersof Philip Larkin 1940–1985, introduction 0
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by Anthony Thwaite. Copyright © 1992 The Estate of Philip Larkin. ct -
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Introduction copyright © 1992 by Anthony Thwaite. n
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Excerpts from Required Writing by Philip Larkin. Copyright © 1983 e
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The Estate of Philip Larkin. gr
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Faber and Faber Limited: o -
Excerpts from Further Requirements by Philip Larkin. Copyright © ms
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2001, 2002 The Estate of Philip Larkin. Introduction and editorial Tr
matter copyright © Anthony Thwaite 2001. ket i
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Excerpts from Trouble at Willow Gables and Other Fictions by Philip bliot
Larkin. Copyright © 2002 The Estate of Philip Larkin. Introduction and sbi
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editorial matter copyright © James Booth 2002. sit
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10.1057/9780230595828 - Philip Larkin, James Booth
Abbreviations
FR Philip Larkin, Further Requirements: Interviews, Broadcasts, 5
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Statements and Book Reviews 1952–1985, ed Anthony Thwaite 0
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(London: Faber and Faber, pbk edn with two additional 0
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chapters, 2002). ct -
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Motion Andrew Motion, Philip Larkin: A Writer’s Life(London: Faber n
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and Faber, 1993). e
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RW Philip Larkin, Required Writing: Miscellaneous Pieces 1955–1982 gr
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(London: Faber, 1983). o -
SL Philip Larkin, Selected Letters, ed Anthony Thwaite (London: ms
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Faber, 1992). et i Tr
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NOTE: Larkin’s poems are cited from the 1988 Collected Poems, ed. bliot
Anthony Thwaite (London: Marvell Press/Faber and Faber, revised sbi
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1990). This volume is currently out of print, and the available 2003 sit
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Collected Poems (London: Marvell Press/Faber and Faber) omits a num- niv
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ber of the poems which I discuss. In order to avoid confusion between o
the two volumes page references to Larkin’s poems have been omitted ed t
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throughout. ce
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10.1057/9780230595828 - Philip Larkin, James Booth