List of poems by Philip Larkin

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The list of poems by Philip Larkin come mostly from the four volumes of poetry published during his lifetime: [1] [2]

Contents

Philip Larkin (1922–1985) also published other poems. They, along with the contents of the four published collections, are included in the 2003 edition of his Collected Poems in two appendices. The previous 1988 edition contains everything that appears in the 2003 edition and additionally includes all the known mature poems that he did not publish during his lifetime, plus an appendix of early work. To help differentiate between these published and unpublished poems in our table all poems that appear in the 2003 edition's appendices are listed as Collected Poems 2003; of course, they also appear in the 1988 volume.

Since 1988 many other unpublished, and as yet uncollected, poems have come to light. Some of these poems have now been included in "The Complete Poems by Philip Larkin," edited by Archie Burnett. [3]

List of poems

The following is the list of 244 poems attributed to Philip Larkin. Untitled poems are identified by their first lines and marked with an ellipsis. Completion dates are in the YYYY-MM-DD format, and are tagged "(best known date)" if the date is not definitive.

Poem titleCompletion dateBook
Absences1950-11-28The Less Deceived
Administration1965-03-03Collected Poems 1988
After-Dinner Remarks1940-06 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Afternoons1959-09 (best known date)The Whitsun Weddings
Age1954-05-26The Less Deceived
All catches alight... (to Bruce Montgomery)1944 (best known date)The North Ship
Ambulances1961-01-10The Whitsun Weddings
An April Sunday brings the snow...1948-04-04Collected Poems 1988
An Arundel Tomb 1956-02-20The Whitsun Weddings
And now the leaves suddenly lose strength...1961-11-03Collected Poems 1988
And the wave sings because it is moving...1946-09-14Collected Poems 1988
Annus Mirabilis1967-06-16High Windows
Ape Experiment Room1965-02-24Collected Poems 1988
Arrival1950 (best known date)Collected Poems 2003
Arrivals, Departures1953-01-24The Less Deceived
As a war in years of peace...1940 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
As Bad as a Mile1960-02-09The Whitsun Weddings
At Grass1950-01-03The Less Deceived
At the chiming of light upon sleep...1946-10-04Collected Poems 1988
At thirty-one, when some are rich... (unfinished)1953-08 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Aubade 1977-11-29Collected Poems 1988
Autobiography at an Air-Station1953-12-06Collected Poems 1988
Autumn1953-10 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Autumn has caught us in our summer wear...1939 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Best Society1951 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Born Yesterday (for Sally Amis)1954-01-20The Less Deceived
The bottle is drunk out by one...1944 (best known date)The North Ship
Breadfruit1961-11-19Collected Poems 2003
Bridge for the Living1975–12 (best known date)Collected Poems 2003
Broadcast1961-11-06The Whitsun Weddings
The Building1972-02-09High Windows
By day, a lifted study-storehouse...1983-10 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
The Card-Players1970-05-06High Windows
Church Going1954-07-28The Less Deceived
Climbing the hill within the deafening wind...1944-10-23The North Ship
Come then to prayers...1946-05-13Collected Poems 1988
Coming1950-02-25The Less Deceived
Coming at last to night's most thankful springs...1945-03-01Collected Poems 1988
Compline1950-02-12Collected Poems 1988
Conscript (for James Ballard Sutton)1941-10 (best known date)The North Ship
Continuing to Live1954-04-24Collected Poems 2003
Counting1955–09 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Cut Grass1971-06-03High Windows
The daily things we do...1979-02 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
The Dance (unfinished)1964-05-12Collected Poems 1988
The Dancer1944 (best known date)The North Ship
Dawn1944 (best known date)The North Ship
Days 1953-08-03The Whitsun Weddings
Dear Charles, My Muse, asleep or dead...1982 (best known date)Collected Poems 2003
Deceptions1950-02-20The Less Deceived
The Dedicated1946-09-18Collected Poems 2003
Deep Analysis1946-04 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Disintegration1942-02 (best known date)Collected Poems 2003
Dockery and Son1963-03-28The Whitsun Weddings
Dry–Point 1950-03-17The Less Deceived
Dublinesque1970-06-06High Windows
Essential Beauty1962-06-26The Whitsun Weddings
The Explosion1970-01-05High Windows
Faith Healing1960-05-10The Whitsun Weddings
Far Out1959-02-01Collected Poems 1988
Femmes Damnées1943 (best known date)Collected Poems 2003
Fiction and the Reading Public1950-02-25Collected Poems 2003
First Sight1956-03-03The Whitsun Weddings
For Sidney Bechet1954-01-15The Whitsun Weddings
Forget What Did1971-08-06High Windows
Fragment from May1938 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Friday Night in the Royal Station Hotel1966-05-20High Windows
Gathering Wood1954-03-25Collected Poems 1988
Going1946–02 (best known date)The Less Deceived
Going, Going1972-01-25High Windows
Good for you, Gavin...1981-11-26Collected Poems 1988
Having grown up in shade of Church and State...1939-06 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
He Hears that his Beloved has become Engaged (for C.G.B.)1953-01-29Collected Poems 1988
Heads in the Women's Ward1972-03-06Collected Poems 2003
Heaviest of flowers, the head...1944 (best known date)The North Ship
Here1961-10-08The Whitsun Weddings
High Windows 1967-02-12High Windows
The hills in their recumbent postures...1940-03 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Homage to a Government1969-01-10High Windows
Home is so Sad1958-12-31The Whitsun Weddings
The horns of the morning...1944 (best known date)The North Ship
Hospital Visits1953-12-04Collected Poems 1988
The house on the edge of the serious wood...1941-04 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
How1970-04-10Collected Poems 2003
How Distant1965-11-24High Windows
How to Sleep1950-03-10Collected Poems 1988
I am washed upon a rock...1949-03-19Collected Poems 1988
I dreamed of an out-thrust arm of land1943 (best known date)The North Ship
I have started to say...1971-10 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
I put my mouth...1944 (best known date)The North Ship
I Remember, I Remember1954-01-08The Less Deceived
If grief could burn out...1944-10-05The North Ship
I see a girl dragged by the wrists...1944 (best known date)The North Ship
If hands could free you, heart...1944 (best known date)The North Ship
If, My Darling1950-05-23The Less Deceived
Ignorance1955-09-11The Whitsun Weddings
In times when nothing stood...1978-03-02Collected Poems 2003
The Importance of Elsewhere1955-06-13The Whitsun Weddings
Is it for now or for always...1944 (best known date)The North Ship
Kick up the fire, and let the flames break loose...1944 (best known date)The North Ship
The Large Cool Store1961-06-18The Whitsun Weddings
Last Will and Testament1940-09 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Latest Face1951-02 (best known date)The Less Deceived
Letter to a Friend about Girls1959-12 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
The Life with a Hole in it1974-08-08Collected Poems 2003
Lift through the breaking day...1945-08-27Collected Poems 1988
Like the train's beat...1944 (best known date)The North Ship
Lines on a Young Lady's Photograph Album1953-09-18The Less Deceived
The Literary World1950-03-20Collected Poems 1988
The little lives of earth and form...1977-05-06Collected Poems 1988
Livings: I, II, III1971-12-10High Windows
Long Last1963-02-03Collected Poems 1988
Long lion days...1982-07-21Collected Poems 1988
Long roots moor summer to our side of earth...1954-06-12Collected Poems 1988
Long Sight in Age1955-06-20Collected Poems 1988
Love1962-12-07Collected Poems 2003
Love Again1979-09-20Collected Poems 1988
Love Songs in Age1957-01-01The Whitsun Weddings
Love, we must part now...1944 (best known date)The North Ship
MCMXIV 1960-05-17The Whitsun Weddings
Maiden Name1955-01-15The Less Deceived
Many famous feet have trod...1946-10-15Collected Poems 1988
The March Past1951-05-25Collected Poems 1988
Marriages1951-06-12Collected Poems 1988
Maturity1951 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
May Weather1941-06-05Collected Poems 2003
Midsummer Night, 19401940-06 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Midwinter Waking195401-27Collected Poems 1988
Modesties1949-05-13Collected Poems 2003
Money1973-02-19High Windows
The moon is full tonight...1944 (best known date)The North Ship
Morning at last: there in the snow...1976-02-01Collected Poems 1988
Morning has spread again...1944 (best known date)The North Ship
Mother, Summer, I1953-08 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
The Mower1979-06-12Collected Poems 2003
Mr Bleaney 1955-05 (best known date)The Whitsun Weddings
Mythological Introduction1943 (best known date)Collected Poems 2003
Myxomatosis1954 (best known date)The Less Deceived
Naturally the Foundation will Bear Your Expenses1961-02-22The Whitsun Weddings
Negative Indicative (unfinished)1953-12-28Collected Poems 1988
Neurotics1949-03 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
New eyes each year...1979-02 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
New Year Poem1940-12-31Collected Poems 1988
Next, Please1951-01-16The Less Deceived
Night-Music1944-10-12The North Ship
No Road1950-10-28The Less Deceived
None of the books have time...1960-01-01Collected Poems 1988
The North Ship1944-10-08The North Ship
Nothing significant was really said...1940-03 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Nothing To Be Said1961-10-18The Whitsun Weddings
Nursery Tale1944 (best known date)The North Ship
Observation1941-11-22Collected Poems 2003
Oils 1950-03-14Collected Poems 2003
The Old Fools1973-01-12High Windows
On Being Twenty-Six1949-05 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
One man walking a deserted platform...1944 (best known date)The North Ship
Out in the lane I pause...1940-12 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Party Politics1984-01 (best known date)Collected Poems 2003
Past days of gales...1945-11-17Collected Poems 1988
Pigeons1955-12-27Collected Poems 2003
Places, Loved Ones1954-10-10The Less Deceived
Plymouth1945-06-25Collected Poems 2003
Poem about Oxford (for Monica)1970 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Poetry of Departures1954-01-23The Less Deceived
Portrait1945-11-07Collected Poems 2003
Posterity1968-06-17High Windows
Pour away that youth...1944 (best known date)The North Ship
Reasons for Attendance1953-12-30The Less Deceived
Reference Back1955-08-21The Whitsun Weddings
Sad Steps1968-04-24High Windows
The School in August1943 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Schoolmaster1940 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Scratch on the scratchpad...1966-07-19Collected Poems 1988
Self's the Man1958-05-05The Whitsun Weddings
Send No Money1962-08-21The Whitsun Weddings
Show Saturday1973-12-03High Windows
Since the majority of me...1950-12-06Collected Poems 2003
Sinking like sediment through the day...1949-05-13Collected Poems 1988
Skin1954-04-05The Less Deceived
A slight relax of air where cold was...1962-01-13Collected Poems 1988
So through that unripe day you bore your head...1944 (best known date)The North Ship
So you have been, despite parental ban...1940-03 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Solar1964-11-04High Windows
The Spirit Wooed1950 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Spring1950-05-19The Less Deceived
Spring Warning1940–04 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
A Stone Church Damaged by a Bomb1943-06 (best known date)Collected Poems 2003
Story1941-02-13Collected Poems 2003
Strangers1950-05-20Collected Poems 1988
Street Lamps1939-09 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
A Study of Reading Habits1960-08-20The Whitsun Weddings
Success Story1954-03-11Collected Poems 2003
Summer Nocturne1939 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Sunny Prestatyn1962-10 (best known date)The Whitsun Weddings
Sympathy in White Major1967-08-31High Windows
Take One Home for the Kiddies1960-08-13The Whitsun Weddings
Talking in Bed1960-08-10The Whitsun Weddings
Thaw1946-12 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
The local snivels through the fields...1951 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
There is no language of destruction...1940 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
This Be The Verse 1971-04 (best known date)High Windows
This is the first thing...1944 (best known date)The North Ship
This was your place of birth, this daytime palace...1942-02-28The North Ship
Time and Space were only their disguises...1941-04 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
To a Very Slow Air1946-09-29Collected Poems 1988
To Failure1949-05-18Collected Poems 1988
To My Wife1951-03-19Collected Poems 1988
To put one brick upon another...1951 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
To the Sea1969-10 (best known date)High Windows
To write one song, I said...1944 (best known date)The North Ship
Toads1954-03-16The Less Deceived
Toads Revisited1962-10 (best known date)The Whitsun Weddings
Tops1953-10-24Collected Poems 2003
Träumerei1946-09-27Collected Poems 1988
The Trees1967-06-02High Windows
Triple Time1953-10-03The Less Deceived
Two Guitar Pieces1946-09-18Collected Poems 1988
Ugly Sister1944 (best known date)The North Ship
Under a splendid chestnut tree...1950-06 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Ultimatum1940-06 (best known date)Collected Poems 2003
Unfinished Poem1951 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Vers de Société1971-05-19High Windows
The View1972-08 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Waiting for breakfast, while she brushed her hair... 1947-12-15The North Ship
Wants1950-06-01The Less Deceived
Water1954-04-06The Whitsun Weddings
We met at the end of the party... 1976-02 (best known date)Uncollected [4]
We see the spring breaking across rough stone...1939 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
Wedding-Wind1946-09-26The Less Deceived
Whatever Happened1953-10-26The Less Deceived
Who whistled for the wind, that it should break...1945-12-15Collected Poems 1988
Why did I dream of you last night?...1939 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
When first we touched, and touching showed...1975-12-20Collected Poems 1988
When the night puts twenty veils...1939-09 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
When the Russian tanks roll westward...1969-03 (best known date)Collected Poems 2003
The Whitsun Weddings 1958-10-18The Whitsun Weddings
Who called love conquering...1950-07-17Collected Poems 2003
Wild Oats1962-05-12The Whitsun Weddings
Winter1944 (best known date)The North Ship
Winter Nocturne1938 (best known date)Collected Poems 1988
The Winter Palace1978-11-01Collected Poems 1988
Within the dream you said...1944-10-12The North Ship
Wires1950-11-04The Less Deceived
A Writer1941-05-08Collected Poems 2003

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Dry-point" written as second part of "Two Portraits about Sex"
  2. ^ "Oils" written as first part of "Two Portraits about Sex"
  3. ^ "Waiting for breakfast while she brushed her hair..." only published in the 1966 Faber and Faber reissue
  4. ^ "We met at the end of the party..." only published in issue 14 of The Larkin Society's journal About Larkin

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References

  1. "The 50 greatest postwar writers" The Times, 5 January 2008.
  2. "Larkin is nation's top poet" BBC News 15 October 2003
  3. "The Complete Poems by Philip Larkin, edited by Archie Burnett". 20 January 2012.
  4. McHenry, Eric (10 February 2003). "High Standards". Slate. 10 February 2003.