Philip Larkin 1922-1985
Born in Coventry, Warwickshire, Larkin was an only son, making his a brother to his older sister. He was brought up in big houses completed with servants. Larkin and his family survived the bombing of the Second World War, which could be part of the reason for his 'different' poetry. Further more, Larkins father had a great love for literature which may of been, or probably was, influenced on Philip Larkin himself. Yet, his mother is described as nervous and passive, the type 'to collapse and be looked after', which it could be said this is why Larkin has a strange view over 'love'. The house of the Larkins seemed some what strange, it is said the extended family never used to visit the home and Larkin was not aloud in school till' the age of 8, as he was homeschooled by his Mother and Sister. Yet, when he did finally join school he fitted in with the crowd perfectly and gained long-life friendships at the school of Coventry's King Henry VIII Junior.
Moving on, after attending Coventry's King Henry, Larkin moved on to Oxford University where he was awarded a first-class honours degree in English Language and Literature. Larkin then moved on and was appointed as a libarian, where he met his first girlfriend Ruth Bowman. They got ingaged sometime after his fathers death of cancer, yet a couple of years later the couple split. Larkin then seemed to become very interested in woman, as he gained a sexual relationshio with Monica Jones, a lecturer in English, meanwhile having an affair with a lady named Patsy Strang, who was in an 'open marriage'. Furthermore, in 1961 a friendhsip with Maeve Brennan become romantic, as she also pushed him to go futher in life where he learnt to drive and learnt how larger gatherings could be good, as Larkin has a preferance for 'smaller gatherings'. While also, Larkin was still seeing Monica Jones. The 'love life' that Larkin seemed to lead seems very, missleading. I think his up bringing with his strict father, and weak and vunerable mother may have given him a 'realist view' of marriage. It is almost as if Larkin had seen things no child should see, and because of this he had gained a view on love and marriage very early in life. This seems to be why Larkin 'gets around a lot', he seems to be from one women to other, or a few at a time! Also, after reading more into Larkin and his life, some of his poems I have read have come to make a lot more sense that the first time reading them. For example, the 'Mr Bleaney' poem was obviously set around him and his life as it is said that ''For his first year he lodged in a bedsite. In 1956, at the age of 34, he rented a self-contained flat on the top-floor of 32 Pearson Park...''. Larkin's poem on Mr Bleaney was so detailed and explained, because in fact Larkin has had the experience of living in a bedsit himself. This gives the impression that in fact the narrator is in fact Larkin, not a made-up character which I believed to think. I also got this impression from a story told about Larkin when ''In early 1963 Brennan persuaded him to go with her to a dance for university staff, despite his preference for smaller gatherings''. This is very much like the event Larkin describes in the poem 'Broadcast', where he talks about a song broadcasted on the Radio which reminds him of an event he did not enjoy, yet he went for this 'beautiful and devout' women.
Overall, I feel that Larkin had a very strong sense of his own independence and he knew his views and believed they were 100% too, not bothing about what critism he got in return. Yet, in my eyes I feel Larkin is rather arogant and in some ways ambiguous. As in 'Nothing to Be Said' he speaks of love in a negative way, saying that it is only used to pass time until people die, yet in 'Broadcast' where he talks about his love for a certain lady he uses it in a postive way. He describes the lady as 'beautiful and devout' emphasizing that he does in fact have feelings for her, yet he said love was just 'to pass time'. This makes me thinks that Larkin was a quite confused man, and he has confused ideas, however when teaching these ideas he seems very proud in his words. This is in comparison to how Larkin only liked to attend 'small gatherings' and didn't enjoy loud music, which connotate how he really is quite a shy person with all these exploding imaginations.
Moving on, after attending Coventry's King Henry, Larkin moved on to Oxford University where he was awarded a first-class honours degree in English Language and Literature. Larkin then moved on and was appointed as a libarian, where he met his first girlfriend Ruth Bowman. They got ingaged sometime after his fathers death of cancer, yet a couple of years later the couple split. Larkin then seemed to become very interested in woman, as he gained a sexual relationshio with Monica Jones, a lecturer in English, meanwhile having an affair with a lady named Patsy Strang, who was in an 'open marriage'. Furthermore, in 1961 a friendhsip with Maeve Brennan become romantic, as she also pushed him to go futher in life where he learnt to drive and learnt how larger gatherings could be good, as Larkin has a preferance for 'smaller gatherings'. While also, Larkin was still seeing Monica Jones. The 'love life' that Larkin seemed to lead seems very, missleading. I think his up bringing with his strict father, and weak and vunerable mother may have given him a 'realist view' of marriage. It is almost as if Larkin had seen things no child should see, and because of this he had gained a view on love and marriage very early in life. This seems to be why Larkin 'gets around a lot', he seems to be from one women to other, or a few at a time! Also, after reading more into Larkin and his life, some of his poems I have read have come to make a lot more sense that the first time reading them. For example, the 'Mr Bleaney' poem was obviously set around him and his life as it is said that ''For his first year he lodged in a bedsite. In 1956, at the age of 34, he rented a self-contained flat on the top-floor of 32 Pearson Park...''. Larkin's poem on Mr Bleaney was so detailed and explained, because in fact Larkin has had the experience of living in a bedsit himself. This gives the impression that in fact the narrator is in fact Larkin, not a made-up character which I believed to think. I also got this impression from a story told about Larkin when ''In early 1963 Brennan persuaded him to go with her to a dance for university staff, despite his preference for smaller gatherings''. This is very much like the event Larkin describes in the poem 'Broadcast', where he talks about a song broadcasted on the Radio which reminds him of an event he did not enjoy, yet he went for this 'beautiful and devout' women.
Overall, I feel that Larkin had a very strong sense of his own independence and he knew his views and believed they were 100% too, not bothing about what critism he got in return. Yet, in my eyes I feel Larkin is rather arogant and in some ways ambiguous. As in 'Nothing to Be Said' he speaks of love in a negative way, saying that it is only used to pass time until people die, yet in 'Broadcast' where he talks about his love for a certain lady he uses it in a postive way. He describes the lady as 'beautiful and devout' emphasizing that he does in fact have feelings for her, yet he said love was just 'to pass time'. This makes me thinks that Larkin was a quite confused man, and he has confused ideas, however when teaching these ideas he seems very proud in his words. This is in comparison to how Larkin only liked to attend 'small gatherings' and didn't enjoy loud music, which connotate how he really is quite a shy person with all these exploding imaginations.
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