Collected Poems - Philip Larkin

The wrong edition

If you want an edition that doesn't contain more than forty poems from Larkin's maturity, then this is the one for you. If, however, you would like to be able to read what Blake Morrison called 'Larkin's last great poem' ('Love Again') or other examples that stand comparison with his best work, like 'Marriages', 'Letter to a Friend about Girls', 'Strangers', 'Autumn', 'Maturity', 'The Dance', 'Negative Indicative' etc etc, then avoid this edition at all costs. Try and get the original Collected Poems second hand, which has them all in. Otherwise you risk being socially embarrassed when someone starts talking to you about 'Gathering Wood' and you swear blind Larkin never wrote such a poem. Think of it!

P.S. It has been pointed out that this review has been posted on ALL the editions of Larkin's collected poems, which is pretty stupid and unhelpful. What is the point of listing editions separately and then posting a review aimed at one particular edition on them all? Anyway, this review is aimed at the 2003 edition, which is (I believe) the first to conatin the cuts. Anything before that date should be OK (UK & US editions). There are plenty available, I urge you to buy them and avoid missing out on some superb poems.

A window on the world

Like so many others, I discovered Larkin doing A level English. Nothing else, I studied then, has stuck with me , some 20 years on, like Larkin has. Simply, a very cynical yet accurate summation of the way life can be lead - wonderful in every way.

A cynical poet but so good with it!

I found Larkin whilst studying for my A-Levels, so was a perfect poet for an angst ridden teenager! His poems are often cynical and bitter, but there is often so much more to them that just that. On reflection and with repeated readings as an adult, you see the depth in the themes Larkins writes of, as well as the eloquent way he does so. It would be easy to dismiss him as just another 'grumpy old man', but you'd be missing so much.

Philip Larkin

I studied the Whitsun Weddings for my A Level English Literature course,that was the first time i was ever introduced to Larkin's poetry, and ihave to confess at that time i found him to be a severely bleak anddepressive writer. However, that is not to say i didn't like his poetry,in fact i found it refreshing to read something with such a realisticoutlook. The thing about Philip Larkin is that he doesn't dress anythingup, he tells it purely how he sees it, and quite often this is what deterspeople from reading him. I would urge people not to be deterred though,because although he may be difficult for some people to get to grips with,Larkin is an excellent poet and well worth the effort of reading.

Doubtful edition of good book

No edition of Larkin's poems could ever be a waste of paper, and anybody without them should buy at once: but please note that this is not the 1980s edition of the same name, and has been cut. It has the same title and editor, and looks like the same book - indeed its blurb is the same - but many of his juvenile poems are omitted and the arrangement is no longer chronological. Given that Larkin spent his adult life as a university librarian, it seems ironic that his Collected will be the source of endless confusion and misidentification in future catalogues. Faber have done him a pointless disservice by this new version, and another by not identifying it as such. But I can only bear to knock one star off the total.