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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, articles gathered in ''All What Jazz: A Record Diary 1961–71'' (1985), and he edited ''The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse'' (1973).〔(Philip Arthur Larkin ), ''Encyclopaedia Britannica''. Retrieved 12 November 2009.〕 His many honours include the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.〔Sleeve note, Letters to Monica, Faber 2010〕 He was offered, but declined, the position of Poet Laureate in 1984, following the death of John Betjeman. After graduating from Oxford 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.〔Motion 2005, pp. 208–209; Chatterjee 2006, p. 19 (for Donald Davie).〕 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",〔 though anthologist Keith Tuma writes that there is more to Larkin's work than its reputation for dour pessimism suggests.〔Tuma 2001, p. 445.〕 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.〔 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.〔Banville 2006.〕 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".〔Cooper 2004, p. 1, for Lisa Jardine; Osborne 2008, p. 15.〕 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.〔(Larkin is nation's top poet ), BBC News, 23 October 2003; , ''The Times'', 5 January 2008.〕 In 1973 a ''Coventry Evening Telegraph'' reviewer referred to Larkin as "the bard of Coventry",〔a poet "with feet firmly on the ground," Coventry Evening Telegraph, 15 November 1973, p.17〕 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〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Toads Are In town ) 〕 which culminated in the unveiling of a statue of Larkin by Martin Jennings on 2 December 2010, the 25th anniversary of his death.〔 〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Philip Larkin statue at Paragon Station ) 〕〔 〕 ==Life== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Philip Larkin」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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