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"Don't read much now: the dude
Who lets the girl down before
The hero arrives, the chap
Who's yellow and keeps the store,
Seem far too familiar. Get stewed:
Books are a load of crap."
Philip Larkin (1922-1985), British poet. A Study of Reading Habits (l. 13-18). . .
Collected Poems of Philip Larkin. Anthony Thwaite, ed. (1988) Farrar, Straus and Giroux. |
"Sixty years ago they smiled
At lover, husband, first-born child.
Smiles are for youth. For old age come
Death's terror and delirium."
Philip Larkin (1922-1986), British poet. "Heads in the Women's Ward." |
"And everywhere the stifling mass of night
Swamps the bright nervous day, and puts it out."
Philip Larkin (1922-1986), British poet. "Midsummer Night, 1940." |
"Grave pristine absolutes
Walked in my mind...."
Philip Larkin (1922-1986), British poet. "Spirit Wooed, The." |
"Moving, yet still.
So they run on,
Until, with a falter,
A flicker soon gone
Their pace starts to alter...."
Philip Larkin (1922-1986), British poet. "Tops." |
"Almanacked, their names live; they
Have slipped their names, and stand at ease,
Or gallop for what must be joy,"
Philip Larkin (1922-1985), British poet. At Grass (l. 24-26). . .
Collected Poems of Philip Larkin. Anthony Thwaite, ed. (1988) Farrar, Straus and Giroux. |
"Heaviest of flowers, the head
Forever hangs above a stormless bed...."
Philip Larkin (1922-1986), British poet. "Heaviest of flowers, the head." |
"The angels yawning in an empty heaven;
Alternate shows of dynamite and rain;
And choosing forced on free will: fire or ice."
Philip Larkin (1922-1986), British poet. "Midsummer Night, 1940." |
"My only crime
Was holding you too dear.
Was that the cause
You daily came less near a pause
Longer than life, if you decide it so?"
Philip Larkin (1922-1986), British poet. "Spirit Wooed, The." |
"To put one brick upon another,
Add a third, and then a fourth,
Leaves no time to wonder whether
What you do has any worth."
Philip Larkin (1922-1986), British poet. "To put one brick upon another." |
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Philip Larkin
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