Philip Larkin Quotes - Page 5

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Age Aging Art Books Children Death Dreams

I think a young poet, or an old poet, for that matter, should try to produce something that pleases himself personally, not only when he's written it but a couple of weeks later. Then he should see if it pleases anyone else, by sending it to the kind of magazine he likes reading.

Philip Larkin

Couple, Reading, Thinking

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In everyone there sleeps a sense of life lived according to love.

Philip Larkin

Sleep, Loving Others

Philip Larkin (2012). “The Whitsun Weddings”, p.12, Faber & Faber

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Most things may never happen: this one will.

Philip Larkin

May, Happens

Philip Larkin (2014). “Collected Poems”, p.171, Faber & Faber

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I am awakened each dawn
Increasingly to fear.

Philip Larkin

Fear, Dawn, Awakened

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In times when nothing stood
but worsened, or grew strange,
there was one constant good:
she did not change.

Philip Larkin

Strange, Grew, Constant

Philip Larkin (2014). “Collected Poems”, p.173, Faber & Faber

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Since the majority of me Rejects the majority of you, Debating ends forthwith, and we Divide.'' Philip Larkin

Philip Larkin

Majority, Ends, Rejects

Philip Larkin (2014). “Collected Poems”, p.156, Faber & Faber

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Dear, I can't write, it's all a fantasy: a kind of circling obsession.

Philip Larkin

Writing, Fantasy, Kind

Philip Larkin (2012). “Philip Larkin: Letters to Monica”, Faber & Faber

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But O, Photography! as no art is,
Faithful and disappointing!

Philip Larkin

Photography, Art, Faithful

Philip Larkin (2014). “Collected Poems”, p.34, Faber & Faber

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It becomes still more difficult to find Words at once true and kind, Or not untrue and not unkind.

Philip Larkin

Kind, Difficult, Stills

Philip Larkin (2014). “Collected Poems”, p.88, Faber & Faber

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On me your voice falls as they say love should, Like an enormous yes.

Philip Larkin

Fall, Voice, Should

Philip Larkin (2012). “The Whitsun Weddings”, p.13, Faber & Faber

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But superstition, like belief, must die.

Philip Larkin

Superstitions, Belief, Dies

Philip Larkin (2014). “Collected Poems”, p.49, Faber & Faber

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But, o, photography! as no art is,Faithful and disappointing! That recordsDull days as dull, and hold-it smiles as frauds,And will not censor blemishes,Like washing-lines, and Hall's-Distemper boards

Philip Larkin

Photography, Art, Faithful

Philip Larkin (2014). “Collected Poems”, p.34, Faber & Faber

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Only one ship is seeking us, a black-Sailed unfamiliar, towing at her backA huge and birdless silence. In her wakeNo waters breed or break.

Philip Larkin

Water, Silence, Black

Philip Larkin (2012). “The Less Deceived”, p.12, Faber & Faber

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The way the moon dashes through clouds that blow Loosely as cannon-smoke... Is a reminder of the strength and pain Of being young; that it can't come again, But is for others undiminished somewhere.

Philip Larkin

Pain, Blow, Moon

Philip Larkin (2014). “Collected Poems”, p.129, Faber & Faber

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The trees are coming into leaf Like something almost being said.

Philip Larkin

Tree, Said, Leafs

Philip Larkin (2012). “Philip Larkin: Letters to Monica”, Faber & Faber

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Living in England has no such excuse:
These are my customs and establishments.

Philip Larkin

Home, England, Excuse

Philip Larkin (2012). “The Whitsun Weddings”, p.32, Faber & Faber

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... everyone young going down the long slide
To happiness, endlessly.

Philip Larkin

Freedom, Long, Slides

Philip Larkin (2014). “Collected Poems”, p.115, Faber & Faber

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Death is no different whined at than withstood.

Philip Larkin

Different

Philip Larkin (2014). “Collected Poems”, p.172, Faber & Faber

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Parting is a training streamer,Lingering like leaves in autumn.

Philip Larkin

Autumn, Training, Parting

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Many famous feet have trod
Sublunary paths, and famous hands have weighed
The strength they have against the strength they need;
And famous lips interrogated God
Concerning franchise in eternity.

Philip Larkin

Greatness, Hands, Feet

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I listen to money singing, it's like looking down from long French windows at a provincial town. The slums, the canal, the churches ornate and mad in the evening sun. It is intensely sad.

Philip Larkin

Fear, Long, Mad

Philip Larkin (2014). “Poesía reunida”, p.279, LUMEN

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Here silence stands Like heat. Here leaves unnoticed thicken, Hidden weeds flower, neglected waters quicken, Luminously-peopled air ascends; And past the poppies bluish neutral distance Ends the land suddenly beyond a beach Of shapes and shingle. Here is unfenced existence: Facing the sun, untalkative, out of reach.

Philip Larkin

Weed, Beach, Distance

Philip Larkin (2012). “The Whitsun Weddings”, p.5, Faber & Faber

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Beneath it all, desire of oblivion runs:
Despite the artful tensions of the calendar,
The life insurance, the tabled fertility rites,
The costly aversion of the eyes from death-
Beneath it all, desire of oblivion runs.

Philip Larkin

Running, Eye, Solitude

Philip Larkin (2014). “Collected Poems”, p.43, Faber & Faber

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Never such innocence, Never before or since, As changed itself to past Without a word--the men Leaving the gardens tidy, The thousands of marriages Lasting a little while longer: Never such innocence again.

Philip Larkin

Past, Men, Garden

The Whitsun Weddings (1964) "MCMXIV"

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And the case of butterflies so rich it looks As if all summer settled there and died.

Philip Larkin

Summer, Butterfly, Looks

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Philip Larkin

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Born: August 9, 1922
Died: December 2, 1985
Occupation: Poet
Cite this Page: Citation

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