The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.
Is it that they are born again
And we grow old? No, they die too,
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.
Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.
Faith Healing
Philip Larkin
Born Philip Arthur Larkin
9 August 1922
Coventry, England Died 2 December 1985 (aged 63)
Kingston upon Hull, England Resting place Cottingham municipal cemetery
53°47′00.98″N 0°25′50.19″W Monuments Bronze statue, Martin Jennings (2010), Hull Paragon Interchange Station Alma mater St John's College, Oxford Occupation Poet, librarian, novelist, jazz critic Employer University of Hull (1955–85) Notable work The Whitsun Weddings (1964), High Windows (1974)
Philip Arthur Larkin CH CBE FRSL (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, The North Ship, was published in 1945, followed by two novels, Jill (1946) and A Girl in Winter (1947), and he came to prominence in 1955 with the publication of his second collection of poems, The Less Deceived, followed by The Whitsun Weddings (1964) and High Windows (1974). He contributed to The Daily Telegraph as its jazz critic from 1961 to 1971, with his articles gathered in All What Jazz: A Record Diary 1961–71 (1985), and edited The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse (1973).[1] His many honours include the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.[2] He was offered, but declined, the position of Poet Laureate in 1984, following the death of Sir John Betjeman.
After graduating from Oxford University in 1943 with a first in English Language and Literature, Larkin became a librarian. It was during the thirty years he worked with distinction as university librarian at the Brynmor Jones Library at the University of Hull that he produced the greater part of his published work. His poems are marked by what Andrew Motion calls "a very English, glum accuracy" about emotions, places, and relationships, and what Donald Davie described as "lowered sights and diminished expectations". Eric Homberger (echoing Randall Jarrell) called him "the saddest heart in the post-war supermarket"—Larkin himself said that deprivation for him was "what daffodils were for Wordsworth".[3] Influenced by W. H. Auden, W. B. Yeats, and Thomas Hardy, his poems are highly structured but flexible verse forms. They were described by Jean Hartley, the ex-wife of Larkin's publisher George Hartley (the Marvell Press), as a "piquant mixture of lyricism and discontent",[4] though anthologist Keith Tuma writes that there is more to Larkin's work than its reputation for dour pessimism suggests.[5]
Larkin's public persona was that of the no-nonsense, solitary Englishman who disliked fame and had no patience for the trappings of the public literary life.[6] The posthumous publication by Anthony Thwaite in 1992 of his letters triggered controversy about his personal life and political views, described by John Banville as hair-raising, but also in places hilarious.[6] Lisa Jardine called him a "casual, habitual racist, and an easy misogynist", but the academic John Osborne argued in 2008 that "the worst that anyone has discovered about Larkin are some crass letters and a taste for porn softer than what passes for mainstream entertainment".[7] Despite the controversy Larkin was chosen in a 2003 Poetry Book Society survey, almost two decades after his death, as Britain's best-loved poet of the previous 50 years, and in 2008 The Times named him Britain's greatest post-war writer.[8]
In 1973 a Coventry Evening Telegraph reviewer referred to Larkin as "the bard of Coventry",[9] but in 2010, 25 years after his death, it was Larkin's adopted home city, Kingston upon Hull, that commemorated him with the Larkin 25 Festival[10] which culminated in the unveiling of a statue of Larkin by Martin Jennings on 2 December 2010, the 25th anniversary of his death.[11][12][13] On 2 December 2016, the 31st anniversary of his death, a floor stone memorial for Larkin was unveiled at Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.[14]
Philip Larkin | |
---|---|
Born | Philip Arthur Larkin 9 August 1922 Coventry, England |
Died | 2 December 1985 (aged 63) Kingston upon Hull, England |
Resting place | Cottingham municipal cemetery 53°47′00.98″N 0°25′50.19″W |
Monuments | Bronze statue, Martin Jennings (2010), Hull Paragon Interchange Station |
Alma mater | St John's College, Oxford |
Occupation | Poet, librarian, novelist, jazz critic |
Employer | University of Hull (1955–85) |
Notable work | The Whitsun Weddings (1964), High Windows (1974) |
Philip Arthur Larkin CH CBE FRSL (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, The North Ship, was published in 1945, followed by two novels, Jill (1946) and A Girl in Winter (1947), and he came to prominence in 1955 with the publication of his second collection of poems, The Less Deceived, followed by The Whitsun Weddings (1964) and High Windows (1974). He contributed to The Daily Telegraph as its jazz critic from 1961 to 1971, with his articles gathered in All What Jazz: A Record Diary 1961–71 (1985), and edited The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse (1973).[1] His many honours include the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.[2] He was offered, but declined, the position of Poet Laureate in 1984, following the death of Sir John Betjeman.
After graduating from Oxford University in 1943 with a first in English Language and Literature, Larkin became a librarian. It was during the thirty years he worked with distinction as university librarian at the Brynmor Jones Library at the University of Hull that he produced the greater part of his published work. His poems are marked by what Andrew Motion calls "a very English, glum accuracy" about emotions, places, and relationships, and what Donald Davie described as "lowered sights and diminished expectations". Eric Homberger (echoing Randall Jarrell) called him "the saddest heart in the post-war supermarket"—Larkin himself said that deprivation for him was "what daffodils were for Wordsworth".[3] Influenced by W. H. Auden, W. B. Yeats, and Thomas Hardy, his poems are highly structured but flexible verse forms. They were described by Jean Hartley, the ex-wife of Larkin's publisher George Hartley (the Marvell Press), as a "piquant mixture of lyricism and discontent",[4] though anthologist Keith Tuma writes that there is more to Larkin's work than its reputation for dour pessimism suggests.[5]
Larkin's public persona was that of the no-nonsense, solitary Englishman who disliked fame and had no patience for the trappings of the public literary life.[6] The posthumous publication by Anthony Thwaite in 1992 of his letters triggered controversy about his personal life and political views, described by John Banville as hair-raising, but also in places hilarious.[6] Lisa Jardine called him a "casual, habitual racist, and an easy misogynist", but the academic John Osborne argued in 2008 that "the worst that anyone has discovered about Larkin are some crass letters and a taste for porn softer than what passes for mainstream entertainment".[7] Despite the controversy Larkin was chosen in a 2003 Poetry Book Society survey, almost two decades after his death, as Britain's best-loved poet of the previous 50 years, and in 2008 The Times named him Britain's greatest post-war writer.[8]
In 1973 a Coventry Evening Telegraph reviewer referred to Larkin as "the bard of Coventry",[9] but in 2010, 25 years after his death, it was Larkin's adopted home city, Kingston upon Hull, that commemorated him with the Larkin 25 Festival[10] which culminated in the unveiling of a statue of Larkin by Martin Jennings on 2 December 2010, the 25th anniversary of his death.[11][12][13] On 2 December 2016, the 31st anniversary of his death, a floor stone memorial for Larkin was unveiled at Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.[14]
This Be The Verse
His relatively small but brilliant body of work, from The
Whitsun Weddings to High Windows offers a distinctive flavour of post-war
England. But what was Larkin’s own attitude to his country?
‘Contrarian spirit’
The word 'England' appears in Larkin’s mature poetry only
four times. “My God”, he wrote in a letter, “surely nationalism is the surest
mark of mediocrity!” In The Importance of Elsewhere, the prospect of return to
England from five years in Ireland fills him with apprehension. There he felt
“welcome” since his “difference” was expected and allowed. “Living in England
has no such excuse,” he wrote. Back among his own 'customs and establishments'
he would be required to conform.
Books are a load of crap – Philip Larkin
And of course he did conform. Official photographs show him in 1961, as librarian in full academic garb, proudly looking on as the Queen Mother opened the new library in Hull into which he had put so much work. The volume of essays on librarianship published in his honour after his death attests to a distinguished career. But he was a 'poet-librarian', and as far as the poet was concerned “Books are a load of crap”. And in any case: “Beneath it all, desire of oblivion runs.”
Larkin's view of the nation's customs and establishments is ambiguous. He would dissolve in tears listening to the Armistice Day ceremony on the radio. But in November 1950, in sheer bloody-mindedness, he refused to buy a poppy. He wrote to his mother: “no particular reason, except that the hags are so confident when they approach you”.
In a letter he called The Trees ‘bloody awful tripe’
This contrarian spirit extended to his poetry. He was aware that the emotional uplift of The Trees would make it a popular poem. “Last year is dead” the leaves seem to say: “Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.” But in a letter he called the poem ”very corny”, and after the workbook draft he added the comment: “bloody awful tripe”.
Larkin may have enjoyed acting up to his conservative public image, sitting po-faced in photographs by an ENGLAND road sign (Credit: Lucy Izzard) |
He may have enjoyed acting up to his conservative, curmudgeonly public image, sitting po-faced in photographs by an ENGLAND road sign. But his poetry is not provincially English; it is universal with an English flavour. “I suppose the kind of response I am seeking from the reader is, Yes, I know what you mean, life is like that; and for readers to say it … not only in England but anywhere in the world.” The pure lyric vocabulary of The Trees makes it an easy poem to translate.
The Whitsun Weddings may evoke a particularly English social
scene, but the 'frail travelling coincidence' of the train journey, and the
bustle on the platforms, speak to readers across cultures:
… fathers had never knownSuccess so huge and wholly farcical;The women sharedThe secret like a happy funeral;While girls, gripping their handbags tighter, staredAt a religious wounding.
The ‘other Poet Laureate’
Larkin was never Poet Laureate. Many felt he should have
been offered the position in 1972, but John Betjeman was preferred. In 1982
Larkin asserted that “poetry” and “sovereignty” are both “very primitive
things”. “I like to think of their being united in this way, in England”. The
Laureate is, of course, appointed directly by the monarch, though since
Wordsworth stipulated as a condition of his acceptance that he not be required
to memorialise royal events (what Larkin referred to as “bloody babies”) this
has not been compulsory.
Larkin was aware that the emotional uplift of The Trees would make it a popular poem but he later called it ”very corny” (Credit: Lucy Izzard) |
By the time Betjeman died in May 1984 Larkin was only months from his own death, and could only decline the position when it was offered to him. He wrote wistfully to Kingsley Amis: “the thought of being the cause of Ted's being buried in Westminster Abbey is hard to live with”.
Ted Hughes became Laureate and in due course, as Larkin
forecast, he was commemorated with a memorial in Westminster Abbey, in 2011.
Many raised their eyebrows at this. Alan Bennett wrote in his diary: “Though
Hughes fits the popular notion of what a poet should be, many more of Larkin's
writings have passed into the national memory.”
Larkin called himself ‘an agnostic, I suppose,
but an
Anglican agnostic, of course’
Now, a little late, Larkin is to join Betjeman and Hughes in
Poets' Corner. Since Anglicanism is, for the present, the state-established
religion, this honour is in the gift of the Dean of Westminster, and Larkin's
installation will take the form of a religious service. Is this entirely
inappropriate? Larkin called himself “an agnostic, I suppose, but an Anglican
agnostic, of course”.
A little late, Larkin is to join John Betjeman and Ted Hughes in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey (Credit: Getty Images) |
He loved the country churches which knit the English landscape together. In his only positively charged poetic use of the word 'England', in Going, Going, he deplores pollution and urban sprawl: “And that will be England gone, / The shadows, the meadows, the lanes, / The guildhalls, the carved choirs.” But, eloquent though this poem is, he derided it in a letter as “thin ranting conventional gruel”. What really moved him about churches was not nostalgia for an archaic England, but the fact that “so many dead lie round”.
Larkin’s atheism was unflinching, courageous
That 'agnostic' was a polite evasion. His atheism was
unflinching, courageous. He commented on the Bible: “It's absolutely bloody
amazing to think that anyone ever believed any of that. Really, it's absolute
balls.” For Larkin religion was a “vast, moth-eaten musical brocade / Created
to pretend we never die.” We may wish that the clasped hands on the Arundel
tomb could 'prove' that “What will survive of us is love”. But this is an
'almost true' 'almost-instinct'. He wrote in the margin of his workbook: '
“Love isn't stronger than death just because statues hold hands for 600
years”.
He was touched deeply only by love, death and ‘being
alive, in the flesh’
Larkin's was the purest of lyric sensibilities: always here,
always now. He was touched deeply only by the existential fundamentals: love, death,
and “being alive, in the flesh”: “the million-petalled flower of being here”.
His fear of extinction is harrowing: “Not to be here, / Not to be anywhere, /
And soon; nothing more terrible, nothing more true.” Larkin is the laureate of
a post-Christian, secular England; and it is much to the credit of the Dean
that he has granted him space in this Anglican sanctum. But the English/British
cultural establishment has long been a patchwork of compromises between
contradictions. Larkin's fellow atheists AE Housman and Percy Bysshe Shelley
are already there, waiting for him to join them.
Days
Poet Philip Larkin talking about his new anthology 'The Oxford Book of 20th Century English Verse' prior to its inclusion on the BBC television series 'Poetry Prom', July 1973. (Photo by Barry Wilkinson/Radio Times via Getty Images) |
Philip Larkin was born in Coventry, England in 1922. He
earned his BA from St. John’s College, Oxford, where he befriended novelist and
poet Kingsley Amis and finished with First Class Honors in English. After
graduating, Larkin undertook professional studies to become a librarian. He
worked in libraries his entire life, first in Shropshire and Leicester, and
then at Queen’s College in Belfast, and finally as librarian at the University
of Hull. In addition to collections of poetry, Larkin published two novels—Jill (1946)
and A Girl in Winter (1947)—as well as criticism, essays, and
reviews of jazz music. The latter were collected in two volumes: All
What Jazz: A Record Diary 1961-1968 (1970; 1985) and Required
Writing: Miscellaneous Pieces 1955-1982 (1984). He was one of
post-war England’s most famous poets, and was commonly referred to as
“England’s other Poet Laureate” until his death in 1985.
Indeed, when the position of laureate became vacant in 1984, many poets and
critics favored Larkin’s appointment, but Larkin preferred to avoid the
limelight.
Aubade
High Windows
List of poems by Philip Larkin
The list of poems by Philip Larkin come mostly from the four volumes of poetry published during his lifetime:[1][2]
- The North Ship (July 1945)
- The Less Deceived (November 1955, dated October)
- The Whitsun Weddings (February 1964)
- High Windows (June 1974)
Philip Larkin (1922–1985) also published other poems. They, along with the contents of the four published collections, are included in the 2003 edition of his Collected Poems in two appendices. The previous 1988 edition contains everything that appears in the 2003 edition and additionally includes all the known mature poems that he did not publish during his lifetime, plus an appendix of early work. To help differentiate between these published and unpublished poems in our table all poems that appear in the 2003 edition's appendices are listed as Collected Poems 2003; of course, they also appear in the 1988 volume.
Since 1988 many other unpublished, and as yet uncollected, poems have come to light. Some of these poems have now been included in "The Complete Poems by Philip Larkin," edited by Archie Burnett.[3]
List of poems
The following is the list of 244 poems attributed to Philip Larkin. Untitled poems are identified by their first lines and marked with an ellipsis. Completion dates are in the YYYY-MM-DD format, and are tagged "(best known date)" if the date is not definitive.
Poem title | Completion date | Book |
---|---|---|
Absences | 1950-11-28 | The Less Deceived |
Administration | 1965-03-03 | Collected Poems 1988 |
After-Dinner Remarks | 1940-06 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Afternoons | 1959-09 (best known date) | The Whitsun Weddings |
Age | 1954-05-26 | The Less Deceived |
All catches alight... (to Bruce Montgomery) | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
Ambulances | 1961-01-10 | The Whitsun Weddings |
An April Sunday brings the snow... | 1948-04-04 | Collected Poems 1988 |
An Arundel Tomb | 1956-02-20 | The Whitsun Weddings |
And now the leaves suddenly lose strength... | 1961-11-03 | Collected Poems 1988 |
And the wave sings because it is moving... | 1946-09-14 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Annus Mirabilis | 1967-06-16 | High Windows |
Ape Experiment Room | 1965-02-24 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Arrival | 1950 (best known date) | Collected Poems 2003 |
Arrivals, Departures | 1953-01-24 | The Less Deceived |
As a war in years of peace... | 1940 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
As Bad as a Mile | 1960-02-09 | The Whitsun Weddings |
At Grass | 1950-01-03 | The Less Deceived |
At the chiming of light upon sleep... | 1946-10-04 | Collected Poems 1988 |
At thirty-one, when some are rich... (unfinished) | 1953-08 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Aubade | 1977-11-29 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Autobiography at an Air-Station | 1953-12-06 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Autumn | 1953-10 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Autumn has caught us in our summer wear... | 1939 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Best Society | 1951 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Born Yesterday (for Sally Amis) | 1954-01-20 | The Less Deceived |
The bottle is drunk out by one... | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
Breadfruit | 1961-11-19 | Collected Poems 2003 |
Bridge for the Living | 1975–12 (best known date) | Collected Poems 2003 |
Broadcast | 1961-11-06 | The Whitsun Weddings |
The Building | 1972-02-09 | High Windows |
By day, a lifted study-storehouse... | 1983-10 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
The Card-Players | 1970-05-06 | High Windows |
Church Going | 1954-07-28 | The Less Deceived |
Climbing the hill within the deafening wind... | 1944-10-23 | The North Ship |
Come then to prayers... | 1946-05-13 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Coming | 1950-02-25 | The Less Deceived |
Coming at last to night's most thankful springs... | 1945-03-01 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Compline | 1950-02-12 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Conscript (for James Ballard Sutton) | 1941-10 (best known date) | The North Ship |
Continuing to Live | 1954-04-24 | Collected Poems 2003 |
Counting | 1955–09 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Cut Grass | 1971-06-03 | High Windows |
The daily things we do... | 1979-02 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
The Dance (unfinished) | 1964-05-12 | Collected Poems 1988 |
The Dancer | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
Dawn | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
Days | 1953-08-03 | The Whitsun Weddings |
Dear Charles, My Muse, asleep or dead... | 1982 (best known date) | Collected Poems 2003 |
Deceptions | 1950-02-20 | The Less Deceived |
The Dedicated | 1946-09-18 | Collected Poems 2003 |
Deep Analysis | 1946-04 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Disintegration | 1942-02 (best known date) | Collected Poems 2003 |
Dockery and Son | 1963-03-28 | The Whitsun Weddings |
Dry–Point[1] | 1950-03-17 | The Less Deceived |
Dublinesque | 1970-06-06 | High Windows |
Essential Beauty | 1962-06-26 | The Whitsun Weddings |
The Explosion | 1970-01-05 | High Windows |
Faith Healing | 1960-05-10 | The Whitsun Weddings |
Far Out | 1959-02-01 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Femmes Damnées | 1943 (best known date) | Collected Poems 2003 |
Fiction and the Reading Public | 1950-02-25 | Collected Poems 2003 |
First Sight | 1956-03-03 | The Whitsun Weddings |
For Sidney Bechet | 1954-01-15 | The Whitsun Weddings |
Forget What Did | 1971-08-06 | High Windows |
Fragment from May | 1938 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Friday Night in the Royal Station Hotel | 1966-05-20 | High Windows |
Gathering Wood | 1954-03-25 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Going | 1946–02 (best known date) | The Less Deceived |
Going, Going | 1972-01-25 | High Windows |
Good for you, Gavin... | 1981-11-26 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Having grown up in shade of Church and State... | 1939-06 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
He Hears that his Beloved has become Engaged (for C.G.B.) | 1953-01-29 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Heads in the Women's Ward | 1972-03-06 | Collected Poems 2003 |
Heaviest of flowers, the head... | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
Here | 1961-10-08 | The Whitsun Weddings |
High Windows | 1967-02-12 | High Windows |
The hills in their recumbent postures... | 1940-03 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Homage to a Government | 1969-01-10 | High Windows |
Home is so Sad | 1958-12-31 | The Whitsun Weddings |
The horns of the morning... | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
Hospital Visits | 1953-12-04 | Collected Poems 1988 |
The house on the edge of the serious wood... | 1941-04 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
How | 1970-04-10 | Collected Poems 2003 |
How Distant | 1965-11-24 | High Windows |
How to Sleep | 1950-03-10 | Collected Poems 1988 |
I am washed upon a rock... | 1949-03-19 | Collected Poems 1988 |
I dreamed of an out-thrust arm of land | 1943 (best known date) | The North Ship |
I have started to say... | 1971-10 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
I put my mouth... | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
I Remember, I Remember | 1954-01-08 | The Less Deceived |
If grief could burn out... | 1944-10-05 | The North Ship |
I see a girl dragged by the wrists... | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
If hands could free you, heart... | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
If, My Darling | 1950-05-23 | The Less Deceived |
Ignorance | 1955-09-11 | The Whitsun Weddings |
In times when nothing stood... | 1978-03-02 | Collected Poems 2003 |
The Importance of Elsewhere | 1955-06-13 | The Whitsun Weddings |
Is it for now or for always... | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
Kick up the fire, and let the flames break loose... | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
The Large Cool Store | 1961-06-18 | The Whitsun Weddings |
Last Will and Testament | 1940-09 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Latest Face | 1951-02 (best known date) | The Less Deceived |
Letter to a Friend about Girls | 1959-12 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
The Life with a Hole in it | 1974-08-08 | Collected Poems 2003 |
Lift through the breaking day... | 1945-08-27 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Like the train's beat... | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
Lines on a Young Lady's Photograph Album | 1953-09-18 | The Less Deceived |
The Literary World | 1950-03-20 | Collected Poems 1988 |
The little lives of earth and form... | 1977-05-06 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Livings: I, II, III | 1971-12-10 | High Windows |
Long Last | 1963-02-03 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Long lion days... | 1982-07-21 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Long roots moor summer to our side of earth... | 1954-06-12 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Long Sight in Age | 1955-06-20 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Love | 1962-12-07 | Collected Poems 2003 |
Love Again | 1979-09-20 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Love Songs in Age | 1957-01-01 | The Whitsun Weddings |
Love, we must part now... | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
MCMXIV | 1960-05-17 | The Whitsun Weddings |
Maiden Name | 1955-01-15 | The Less Deceived |
Many famous feet have trod... | 1946-10-15 | Collected Poems 1988 |
The March Past | 1951-05-25 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Marriages | 1951-06-12 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Maturity | 1951 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
May Weather | 1941-06-05 | Collected Poems 2003 |
Midsummer Night, 1940 | 1940-06 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Midwinter Waking | 195401-27 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Modesties | 1949-05-13 | Collected Poems 2003 |
Money | 1973-02-19 | High Windows |
The moon is full tonight... | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
Morning at last: there in the snow... | 1976-02-01 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Morning has spread again... | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
Mother, Summer, I | 1953-08 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
The Mower | 1979-06-12 | Collected Poems 2003 |
Mr Bleaney | 1955-05 (best known date) | The Whitsun Weddings |
Mythological Introduction | 1943 (best known date) | Collected Poems 2003 |
Myxomatosis | 1954 (best known date) | The Less Deceived |
Naturally the Foundation will Bear Your Expenses | 1961-02-22 | The Whitsun Weddings |
Negative Indicative (unfinished) | 1953-12-28 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Neurotics | 1949-03 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
New eyes each year... | 1979-02 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
New Year Poem | 1940-12-31 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Next, Please | 1951-01-16 | The Less Deceived |
Night-Music | 1944-10-12 | The North Ship |
No Road | 1950-10-28 | The Less Deceived |
None of the books have time... | 1960-01-01 | Collected Poems 1988 |
The North Ship | 1944-10-08 | The North Ship |
Nothing significant was really said... | 1940-03 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Nothing To Be Said | 1961-10-18 | The Whitsun Weddings |
Nursery Tale | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
Observation | 1941-11-22 | Collected Poems 2003 |
Oils[2] | 1950-03-14 | Collected Poems 2003 |
The Old Fools | 1973-01-12 | High Windows |
On Being Twenty-Six | 1949-05 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
One man walking a deserted platform... | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
Out in the lane I pause... | 1940-12 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Party Politics | 1984-01 (best known date) | Collected Poems 2003 |
Past days of gales... | 1945-11-17 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Pigeons | 1955-12-27 | Collected Poems 2003 |
Places, Loved Ones | 1954-10-10 | The Less Deceived |
Plymouth | 1945-06-25 | Collected Poems 2003 |
Poem about Oxford (for Monica) | 1970 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Poetry of Departures | 1954-01-23 | The Less Deceived |
Portrait | 1945-11-07 | Collected Poems 2003 |
Posterity | 1968-06-17 | High Windows |
Pour away that youth... | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
Reasons for Attendance | 1953-12-30 | The Less Deceived |
Reference Back | 1955-08-21 | The Whitsun Weddings |
Sad Steps | 1968-04-24 | High Windows |
The School in August | 1943 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Schoolmaster | 1940 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Scratch on the scratchpad... | 1966-07-19 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Self's the Man | 1958-05-05 | The Whitsun Weddings |
Send No Money | 1962-08-21 | The Whitsun Weddings |
Show Saturday | 1973-12-03 | High Windows |
Since the majority of me... | 1950-12-06 | Collected Poems 2003 |
Sinking like sediment through the day... | 1949-05-13 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Skin | 1954-04-05 | The Less Deceived |
A slight relax of air where cold was... | 1962-01-13 | Collected Poems 1988 |
So through that unripe day you bore your head... | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
So you have been, despite parental ban... | 1940-03 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Solar | 1964-11-04 | High Windows |
The Spirit Wooed | 1950 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Spring | 1950-05-19 | The Less Deceived |
Spring Warning | 1940–04 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
A Stone Church Damaged by a Bomb | 1943-06 (best known date) | Collected Poems 2003 |
Story | 1941-02-13 | Collected Poems 2003 |
Strangers | 1950-05-20 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Street Lamps | 1939-09 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
A Study of Reading Habits | 1960-08-20 | The Whitsun Weddings |
Success Story | 1954-03-11 | Collected Poems 2003 |
Summer Nocturne | 1939 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Sunny Prestatyn | 1962-10 (best known date) | The Whitsun Weddings |
Sympathy in White Major | 1967-08-31 | High Windows |
Take One Home for the Kiddies | 1960-08-13 | The Whitsun Weddings |
Talking in Bed | 1960-08-10 | The Whitsun Weddings |
Thaw | 1946-12 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
The local snivels through the fields... | 1951 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
There is no language of destruction... | 1940 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
This Be The Verse | 1971-04 (best known date) | High Windows |
This is the first thing... | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
This was your place of birth, this daytime palace... | 1942-02-28 | The North Ship |
Time and Space were only their disguises... | 1941-04 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
To a Very Slow Air | 1946-09-29 | Collected Poems 1988 |
To Failure | 1949-05-18 | Collected Poems 1988 |
To My Wife | 1951-03-19 | Collected Poems 1988 |
To put one brick upon another... | 1951 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
To the Sea | 1969-10 (best known date) | High Windows |
To write one song, I said... | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
Toads | 1954-03-16 | The Less Deceived |
Toads Revisited | 1962-10 (best known date) | The Whitsun Weddings |
Tops | 1953-10-24 | Collected Poems 2003 |
Träumerei | 1946-09-27 | Collected Poems 1988 |
The Trees | 1967-06-02 | High Windows |
Triple Time | 1953-10-03 | The Less Deceived |
Two Guitar Pieces | 1946-09-18 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Ugly Sister | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
Under a splendid chestnut tree... | 1950-06 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Ultimatum | 1940-06 (best known date) | Collected Poems 2003 |
Unfinished Poem | 1951 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Vers de Société | 1971-05-19 | High Windows |
The View | 1972-08 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Waiting for breakfast, while she brushed her hair...[3] | 1947-12-15 | The North Ship |
Wants | 1950-06-01 | The Less Deceived |
Water | 1954-04-06 | The Whitsun Weddings |
We met at the end of the party...[4] | 1976-02 (best known date) | Uncollected[4] |
We see the spring breaking across rough stone... | 1939 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
Wedding-Wind | 1946-09-26 | The Less Deceived |
Whatever Happened | 1953-10-26 | The Less Deceived |
Who whistled for the wind, that it should break... | 1945-12-15 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Why did I dream of you last night?... | 1939 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
When first we touched, and touching showed... | 1975-12-20 | Collected Poems 1988 |
When the night puts twenty veils... | 1939-09 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
When the Russian tanks roll westward... | 1969-03 (best known date) | Collected Poems 2003 |
The Whitsun Weddings | 1958-10-18 | The Whitsun Weddings |
Who called love conquering... | 1950-07-17 | Collected Poems 2003 |
Wild Oats | 1962-05-12 | The Whitsun Weddings |
Winter | 1944 (best known date) | The North Ship |
Winter Nocturne | 1938 (best known date) | Collected Poems 1988 |
The Winter Palace | 1978-11-01 | Collected Poems 1988 |
Within the dream you said... | 1944-10-12 | The North Ship |
Wires | 1950-11-04 | The Less Deceived |
A Writer | 1941-05-08 | Collected Poems 2003 |