Sometimes tagged as “the Hermit of Hull” (Motion, 256), Philip Larkin lived a private and, except for his poetry, unadvertised life, most of it as head librarian at the University of Hull. Nevertheless, according to biographer James Booth, Philip Larkin “is, by common consent, the best-loved British poet of the last century.  Phrases and lines from his poems are more frequently quoted than those of any other poet of his time…” (1). Philip Larkin’s poems are grounded, unflinching, and bracingly intelligent while never donning an academic shine or dressed complexity.  They share what the poet perceives in the scheme of our desires and pursuits in a life that is offensively ephemeral and frequently unresponsive.  Read More