AO5 Larkin

Bryan Appleyard

'a hopeless and inflexible pessimist'

Andrew Motion

"None of Larkin's poems registers the achievement of complete calm success in love."

Leo Cox

'The characters in many of Larkin's poems may reflect his own sense of detachment and disillusionment.'

Seamus Heaney

'He is suspicious of any easy consolation.'

Leo Cox on existence

'Larkin feels cheated by existence'

Leo Cox on nature

"Uses nature as a medium for discussing his preoccupation with how transient and pointless every in the world is."

Phillip Larkin

'I want them to live something through the poem, without necessarily being conscious of the poem as a poem.'