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1922-1985
Poet, also the author of two novels and various essays. Philip Arthur Larkin was born in Coventry, the only son of Sydney and Eva Larkin. His father was City Treasurer of Coventry from 1922 until 1944. Philip attended the King Henry VIII School in the city from 1930 until 1940 and then went on to read English at St. John’s College, Oxford.
After graduation from Oxford, in 1943, he returned to his parents home, now in Warwick, and tried to unsuccessfully to join the Civil Service. Instead he became a librarian, a profession in which he remained for the rest of his life. His first post was in the Public Library at Wellington, Shropshire, where he spent three years, from November 1943. Here he was able to meet up regularly with Robert Bruce Montgomery (the novelist, Edmund Crispin), his friend from St. John's, who was teaching at nearby Shrewsbury School.
It seems that Wellington made an impression on him and certainly the library did, for, in antiquated premises, he had to stoke a reluctant boiler, shelve hundreds of equally antiquated and dust laden books and, virtually single-handed, attempt to bring the service into the twentieth century. During this time he was writing a novel and working on some of his early poems. In 1962 Wellington Library was enlarged and modernised and Philip Larkin returned to the town where he was still affectionately remembered to formally open the building. He recalled his early introduction to librarianship in Wellington in a witty, nostalgic article in The Library Association Record, October 1977.
He went on to library posts at the Universities of Belfast and Leicester before becoming Librarian of the Brynmoor Jones Library at Hull University, a post which he held with great distinction from 1955.
Generally considered to be one of the finest post-war British poets, he refused the poet laureateship after the death of Sir John Betjeman in 1984, perhaps being only too aware of his own failing health. His earliest published work was in The Coventrian, the King Henry VIII School magazine of which he was joint editor during his final academic year at the school. His early poetry shows the unmistakable influence of Yeats and were collected in The north ship (1945). His two early novels went relatively unnoticed, but the publication of The less deceived in 1955 by the Marvell Press, a small but enterprising publisher, brought Larkin to the forefront of modern English poetry. Two further volumes of poetry, The Whitsun weddings (1964) and High windows (1974) confirmed his standing.
Adapted from An Illustrated Literary Guide to Shropshire by Gordon Dickins, published by Shropshire Libraries, 1987. © Gordon Dickins, 1987.
The following works are available in the West Midlands Creative Literature Collection:-
A girl in winter (1947). Novel
Jill (1946). Novel
The less deceived (1955). Poetry
The north ship (1945)
The Oxford book of Twentieth Century English verse, compiled
by Philip Larkin (1973)
Required writing; Miscellaneous pieces 1955-1982 (1983).
Essays
Selected letters of Philip Larkin 1940-1985 (1992)
The Whitsun weddings (1964). Poetry
The following works are available in the West Midlands Creative Literature Collection:-
Larkin (1987) by Roger DayThe Philip Larkin Society (founded 1995) is a national and international focus for the work of the poet. The comprehensive website includes a biography, bibliography, membership details, useful links to other websites and a "Poem of the Month".
The Literary Encyclopedia has a profile of Philip Larkin by Stephen Regan, Royal Holloway University of London.
The Coventry and Warwickshire Network has background information on Philip Larkin.
Page created 9 February 2001 and last updated 7 April 2005
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