Autumn 2026: Philip Larkin: disillusion, subversion and brilliance

Members:  £30
Non-members: £35
Concessions: £30 (call the office 020 8340 3343)

Please note that this class takes place on the first floor meaning there is unfortunately no step-free access.

Philip Larkin (1922–1985) came to prominence as a poet with the publication of his second collection, The Less Deceived, in 1955. This was followed by two further well-received books of poems at approximately 10-year intervals: The Whitsun Weddings (1964) and High Windows (1975).

Having escaped the gravitational pull of Auden and Yeats, Larkin had begun to write in a usually conversational voice by the mid-50s. His style was encouraged by reading the poetry of Thomas Hardy. Rejecting the obscurities of Modernism, he addressed the common reader, with a frankness that is both refreshing and challenging. He subverted traditional assumptions – about ‘that much-mentioned brilliance, love’, about family and social life, about work, about God and the spirit, about the language appropriate to poetic expression.

Larkin’s greatness lies in his absolute mastery of poetic form, his observational acuity, his ability to come up with exactly the right phrase and the honesty with which he confronts the limitations of his own temperament and of his life prospects as he ages. The ‘frictionless memorability’ of his poetry, as Martin Amis once put it, often produces an exhilaration that transcends its disillusioned content.

This half-day course focuses in depth on 6–8 brilliant Larkin poems, analysing the intelligence, sensitivity and skill they exhibit, as well as their moods and attitudes – not overlooking sentiments that can be uncomfortable for the modern reader. Despite the poet’s preference for ordinary language, there is no shortage of mysteries and ambiguities. The ‘arrow-shower, / Sent out of sight, somewhere becoming rain’ at the end of ‘The Whitsun Weddings’ was inspired by the Agincourt scene in the film of Henry V, with Laurence Olivier, but what exactly does the image mean, with its juxtaposition of warfare and nature, and how does it relate to newly-weds embarking on their married lives? And what is behind Larkin’s occasional use of double negatives – for example, ‘not untrue and not unkind’ in ‘Talking in Bed’?

Robert Saxton’s published poetry includes works that owe a debt to Larkin’s verse forms and everyday idiom, giving him a practitioner’s viewpoint on these mid-late 20th-century masterpieces. Robert will evaluate some of the most insightful assessments of Larkin by critics both admiring and hostile. Participants in the class will be given ample opportunity to discuss Larkin’s imagery, word music, observations and ideas.