Philip Larkin : [an introduction to the variety of criticism

Following the recent publication of Philip Larkin's Collected Poems, this study draws on a previously unavailable range of work extending from 1938 to 1983. In the course of its survey, the book exposes the limitations of narrowly thematic and formalist criticism, but it treats with equal scepticism the fashionable tendency to regard Larkin as a 'symbolist' poet. In his appraisal Stephen Regan argues strongly for the importance of reading the poems historically and contextually. The emphasis here is on the post-war cultural milieu of Larkin's work and its complex engagement with questions of individual freedom and social commitment. Front Matter....Pages 1-8 Introduction....Pages 9-11 Philip Larkin and the Movement....Pages 13-25 Gentility in English Poetry....Pages 25-33 Thematic Approaches....Pages 33-43 Linguistic Approaches....Pages 43-50 Modernism and Symbolism....Pages 51-59 Historicist Criticism....Pages 61-66 Larkin’s Wartime Writings....Pages 66-77 Fables of Freedom: The Less Deceived....Pages 77-100 From Austerity to Affluence: The Whitsun Weddings....Pages 100-123 The End of Consensus: High Windows....Pages 123-142 Back Matter....Pages 143-152 Surveys the variety of existing critical approaches to the poetry of Philip Larkin, and includes a detailed historicist reading of its own. The book covers the entire range of Philip Larkin's poetry as published in the "Collected Poems", and offers an analysis of Larkin's wartime verse.