List of poems by Philip Larkin

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

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 To help differentiate between these published and unpublished poems in our table all poems that appear in the 2003 edition's appendices are listed as Collected Poems 2003; of course, they also appear in the 1988 volume.

Since 1988 many other unpublished, and as yet uncollected, poems have come to light.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

See also: Category:Poetry by Philip Larkin

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 title Completion date Book
Absences 1950-11-28 The Less Deceived
Administration 1965-03-03 Collected Poems 1988
After-Dinner Remarks 1940-06 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Afternoons 1959-09 (best known date) The Whitsun Weddings
Age 1954-05-26 The Less Deceived
All catches alight... (to Bruce Montgomery) 1944 (best known date) The North Ship
Ambulances 1961-01-10 The Whitsun Weddings
An April Sunday brings the snow... 1948-04-04 Collected Poems 1988
An Arundel Tomb 1956-02-20 The Whitsun Weddings
And now the leaves suddenly lose strength... 1961-11-03 Collected Poems 1988
And the wave sings because it is moving... 1946-09-14 Collected Poems 1988
Annus Mirabilis 1967-06-16 High Windows
Ape Experiment Room 1965-02-24 Collected Poems 1988
Arrival 1950 (best known date) Collected Poems 2003
Arrivals, Departures 1953-01-24 The Less Deceived
As a war in years of peace... 1940 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
As Bad as a Mile 1960-02-09 The Whitsun Weddings
At Grass 1950-01-03 The Less Deceived
At the chiming of light upon sleep... 1946-10-04 Collected Poems 1988
At thirty-one, when some are rich... (unfinished) 1953-08 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Aubade 1977-11-29 Collected Poems 1988
Autobiography at an Air-Station 1953-12-06 Collected Poems 1988
Autumn 1953-10 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Autumn has caught us in our summer wear... 1939 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Best Society 1951 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Born Yesterday (for Sally Amis) 1954-01-20 The Less Deceived
The bottle is drunk out by one... 1944 (best known date) The North Ship
Breadfruit 1961-11-19 Collected Poems 2003
Bridge for the Living 1975–12 (best known date) Collected Poems 2003
Broadcast 1961-11-06 The Whitsun Weddings
The Building 1972-02-09 High Windows
By day, a lifted study-storehouse... 1983-10 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
The Card-Players 1970-05-06 High Windows
Church Going 1954-07-28 The Less Deceived
Climbing the hill within the deafening wind... 1944-10-23 The North Ship
Come then to prayers... 1946-05-13 Collected Poems 1988
Coming 1950-02-25 The Less Deceived
Coming at last to night's most thankful springs... 1945-03-01 Collected Poems 1988
Compline 1950-02-12 Collected Poems 1988
Conscript (for James Ballard Sutton) 1941-10 (best known date) The North Ship
Continuing to Live 1954-04-24 Collected Poems 2003
Counting 1955–09 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Cut Grass 1971-06-03 High Windows
The daily things we do... 1979-02 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
The Dance (unfinished) 1964-05-12 Collected Poems 1988
The Dancer 1944 (best known date) The North Ship
Dawn 1944 (best known date) The North Ship
Days 1953-08-03 The Whitsun Weddings
Dear Charles, My Muse, asleep or dead... 1982 (best known date) Collected Poems 2003
Deceptions 1950-02-20 The Less Deceived
The Dedicated 1946-09-18 Collected Poems 2003
Deep Analysis 1946-04 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Disintegration 1942-02 (best known date) Collected Poems 2003
Dockery and Son 1963-03-28 The Whitsun Weddings
Dry–Point[1] 1950-03-17 The Less Deceived
Dublinesque 1970-06-06 High Windows
Essential Beauty 1962-06-26 The Whitsun Weddings
The Explosion 1970-01-05 High Windows
Faith Healing 1960-05-10 The Whitsun Weddings
Far Out 1959-02-01 Collected Poems 1988
Femmes Damnées 1943 (best known date) Collected Poems 2003
Fiction and the Reading Public 1950-02-25 Collected Poems 2003
First Sight 1956-03-03 The Whitsun Weddings
For Sidney Bechet 1954-01-15 The Whitsun Weddings
Forget What Did 1971-08-06 High Windows
Fragment from May 1938 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Friday Night in the Royal Station Hotel 1966-05-20 High Windows
Gathering Wood 1954-03-25 Collected Poems 1988
Going 1946–02 (best known date) The Less Deceived
Going, Going 1972-01-25 High Windows
Good for you, Gavin... 1981-11-26 Collected 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.) 1953-01-29 Collected Poems 1988
Heads in the Women's Ward 1972-03-06 Collected Poems 2003
Heaviest of flowers, the head... 1944 (best known date) The North Ship
Here 1961-10-08 The Whitsun Weddings
High Windows 1967-02-12 High Windows
The hills in their recumbent postures... 1940-03 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Homage to a Government 1969-01-10 High Windows
Home is so Sad 1958-12-31 The Whitsun Weddings
The horns of the morning... 1944 (best known date) The North Ship
Hospital Visits 1953-12-04 Collected Poems 1988
The house on the edge of the serious wood... 1941-04 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
How 1970-04-10 Collected Poems 2003
How Distant 1965-11-24 High Windows
How to Sleep 1950-03-10 Collected Poems 1988
I am washed upon a rock... 1949-03-19 Collected Poems 1988
I dreamed of an out-thrust arm of land 1943 (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 Remember 1954-01-08 The Less Deceived
If grief could burn out... 1944-10-05 The 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 Darling 1950-05-23 The Less Deceived
Ignorance 1955-09-11 The Whitsun Weddings
In times when nothing stood... 1978-03-02 Collected Poems 2003
The Importance of Elsewhere 1955-06-13 The 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 Store 1961-06-18 The Whitsun Weddings
Last Will and Testament 1940-09 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Latest Face 1951-02 (best known date) The Less Deceived
Letter to a Friend about Girls 1959-12 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
The Life with a Hole in it 1974-08-08 Collected Poems 2003
Lift through the breaking day... 1945-08-27 Collected Poems 1988
Like the train's beat... 1944 (best known date) The North Ship
Lines on a Young Lady's Photograph Album 1953-09-18 The Less Deceived
The Literary World 1950-03-20 Collected Poems 1988
The little lives of earth and form... 1977-05-06 Collected Poems 1988
Livings: I, II, III 1971-12-10 High Windows
Long Last 1963-02-03 Collected Poems 1988
Long lion days... 1982-07-21 Collected Poems 1988
Long roots moor summer to our side of earth... 1954-06-12 Collected Poems 1988
Long Sight in Age 1955-06-20 Collected Poems 1988
Love 1962-12-07 Collected Poems 2003
Love Again 1979-09-20 Collected Poems 1988
Love Songs in Age 1957-01-01 The Whitsun Weddings
Love, we must part now... 1944 (best known date) The North Ship
MCMXIV 1960-05-17 The Whitsun Weddings
Maiden Name 1955-01-15 The Less Deceived
Many famous feet have trod... 1946-10-15 Collected Poems 1988
The March Past 1951-05-25 Collected Poems 1988
Marriages 1951-06-12 Collected Poems 1988
Maturity 1951 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
May Weather 1941-06-05 Collected Poems 2003
Midsummer Night, 1940 1940-06 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Midwinter Waking 1954-01-27 Collected Poems 1988
Modesties 1949-05-13 Collected Poems 2003
Money 1973-02-19 High Windows
The moon is full tonight... 1944 (best known date) The North Ship
Morning at last: there in the snow... 1976-02-01 Collected Poems 1988
Morning has spread again... 1944 (best known date) The North Ship
Mother, Summer, I 1953-08 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
The Mower 1979-06-12 Collected Poems 2003
Mr Bleaney 1955-05 (best known date) The Whitsun Weddings
Mythological Introduction 1943 (best known date) Collected Poems 2003
Myxomatosis 1954 (best known date) The Less Deceived
Naturally the Foundation will Bear Your Expenses 1961-02-22 The Whitsun Weddings
Negative Indicative (unfinished) 1953-12-28 Collected Poems 1988
Neurotics 1949-03 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
New eyes each year... 1979-02 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
New Year Poem 1940-12-31 Collected Poems 1988
Next, Please 1951-01-16 The Less Deceived
Night-Music 1944-10-12 The North Ship
No Road 1950-10-28 The Less Deceived
None of the books have time... 1960-01-01 Collected Poems 1988
The North Ship 1944-10-08 The North Ship
Nothing significant was really said... 1940-03 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Nothing To Be Said 1961-10-18 The Whitsun Weddings
Nursery Tale 1944 (best known date) The North Ship
Observation 1941-11-22 Collected Poems 2003
Oils[2] 1950-03-14 Collected Poems 2003
The Old Fools 1973-01-12 High Windows
On Being Twenty-Six 1949-05 (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 Politics 1984-01 (best known date) Collected Poems 2003
Past days of gales... 1945-11-17 Collected Poems 1988
Pigeons 1955-12-27 Collected Poems 2003
Places, Loved Ones 1954-10-10 The Less Deceived
Plymouth 1945-06-25 Collected Poems 2003
Poem about Oxford (for Monica) 1970 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Poetry of Departures 1954-01-23 The Less Deceived
Portrait 1945-11-07 Collected Poems 2003
Posterity 1968-06-17 High Windows
Pour away that youth... 1944 (best known date) The North Ship
Reasons for Attendance 1953-12-30 The Less Deceived
Reference Back 1955-08-21 The Whitsun Weddings
Sad Steps 1968-04-24 High Windows
The School in August 1943 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Schoolmaster 1940 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Scratch on the scratchpad... 1966-07-19 Collected Poems 1988
Self's the Man 1958-05-05 The Whitsun Weddings
Send No Money 1962-08-21 The Whitsun Weddings
Show Saturday 1973-12-03 High Windows
Since the majority of me... 1950-12-06 Collected Poems 2003
Sinking like sediment through the day... 1949-05-13 Collected Poems 1988
Skin 1954-04-05 The Less Deceived
A slight relax of air where cold was... 1962-01-13 Collected 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
Solar 1964-11-04 High Windows
The Spirit Wooed 1950 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Spring 1950-05-19 The Less Deceived
Spring Warning 1940–04 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
A Stone Church Damaged by a Bomb 1943-06 (best known date) Collected Poems 2003
Story 1941-02-13 Collected Poems 2003
Strangers 1950-05-20 Collected Poems 1988
Street Lamps 1939-09 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
A Study of Reading Habits 1960-08-20 The Whitsun Weddings
Success Story 1954-03-11 Collected Poems 2003
Summer Nocturne 1939 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Sunny Prestatyn 1962-10 (best known date) The Whitsun Weddings
Sympathy in White Major 1967-08-31 High Windows
Take One Home for the Kiddies 1960-08-13 The Whitsun Weddings
Talking in Bed 1960-08-10 The Whitsun Weddings
Thaw 1946-12 (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... 1942-02-28 The North Ship
Time and Space were only their disguises... 1941-04 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
To a Very Slow Air 1946-09-29 Collected Poems 1988
To Failure 1949-05-18 Collected Poems 1988
To My Wife 1951-03-19 Collected Poems 1988
To put one brick upon another... 1951 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
To the Sea 1969-10 (best known date) High Windows
To write one song, I said... 1944 (best known date) The North Ship
Toads 1954-03-16 The Less Deceived
Toads Revisited 1962-10 (best known date) The Whitsun Weddings
Tops 1953-10-24 Collected Poems 2003
Träumerei 1946-09-27 Collected Poems 1988
The Trees 1967-06-02 High Windows
Triple Time 1953-10-03 The Less Deceived
Two Guitar Pieces 1946-09-18 Collected Poems 1988
Ugly Sister 1944 (best known date) The North Ship
Under a splendid chestnut tree... 1950-06 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Ultimatum 1940-06 (best known date) Collected Poems 2003
Unfinished Poem 1951 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Vers de Société 1971-05-19 High Windows
The View 1972-08 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Waiting for breakfast, while she brushed her hair...[3] 1947-12-15 The North Ship
Wants 1950-06-01 The Less Deceived
Water 1954-04-06 The Whitsun Weddings
We met at the end of the party...[4] 1976-02 (best known date) Uncollected[4]
We see the spring breaking across rough stone... 1939 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
Wedding-Wind 1946-09-26 The Less Deceived
Whatever Happened 1953-10-26 The Less Deceived
Who whistled for the wind, that it should break... 1945-12-15 Collected Poems 1988
Why did I dream of you last night?... 1939 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
When first we touched, and touching showed... 1975-12-20 Collected 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 1958-10-18 The Whitsun Weddings
Who called love conquering... 1950-07-17 Collected Poems 2003
Wild Oats 1962-05-12 The Whitsun Weddings
Winter 1944 (best known date) The North Ship
Winter Nocturne 1938 (best known date) Collected Poems 1988
The Winter Palace 1978-11-01 Collected Poems 1988
Within the dream you said... 1944-10-12 The North Ship
Wires 1950-11-04 The Less Deceived
A Writer 1941-05-08 Collected 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

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.