Poems providing a range of urban and suburban provincial landscapes, social commentary with a satirical edge, and stoic wit.
Arvustused
Taken together, this bargain-priced mini-library offers something for all moods, from the elegiac (Larkin and Sassoon) to the comic (Eliot's cats and Cope's cocoa). The Auden incldues 'Funeral Blues', so heart-rendingly recited in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral; the Ted Hughes shows the modern myth-maker at his most intense; while Heaney's first book reveals a formidable talent taking its earnest first vows in the poetic calling. Most challenging books here - with difficulty and depth enough for a lifetime - are The Wasteland and Ariel. Armitage is a young and likeable high-achiever, Yorkshirely sardonic. Larkin's landmark collection is bravely bleak, with devastatingly truthful observations on loneliness and ageing. (Kirkus UK)
Philip Larkin was born in Coventry in 1922 and was educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry, and St John's College, Oxford. As well as his volumes of poems, which include The Whitsun Weddings and High Windows, he wrote two novels, Jill and A Girl in Winter, and two books of collected journalism: All What Jazz: A Record Library, and Required Writing: Miscellaneous Prose. He worked as a librarian at the University of Hull from 1955 until his death in 1985. He was the best-loved poet of his generation, and the recipient of innumerable honours, including the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, and the WHSmith Award.
