High Windows

Larkin's final collection of poems shows, as does all his best work, his ability to adapt contemporary speech rhythms and everyday vocabulary to subtle metrical patterns and poetic forms. Many of the poems in the collection, which includes some of his best-known pieces ('The Old Fools', 'This Be the Verse', 'The Explosion', and the title poem) show the preoccupation with death and transience that is so typical of the poet. Rather than words comes the thought of high windows: The sun-comprehending glass, And beyond it, the deep blue air, that shows Nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless. from 'High Windows' When Philip Larkin's High Windows First Appeared, Kingsley Amis Spoke For A Large And Loyal Readership When He Wrote: 'larkin's Admirers Need Only Be Told That He Is As Good As Ever Here, If Not Slightly Better.' Like Betjeman And Hardy, Larkin Is A Poet Who Can Move A Large Audience - Without Betraying The Highest Artistic Standards. The Poems In High Windows Illustrate Larkin's Unrivalled Ability To Bring Lyrical Expression To Ordinary, Urban Lives. It Is A Gift That Makes Him One Of The Most Truly Popular Of The Twentieth Century's Poets. Poems providing a range of urban and suburban provincial landscapes, social commentary with a satirical edge, and stoic wit. Illustrates the author's unrivalled ability to bring lyrical expression to ordinary, urban lives.