Philip Larkin

Montage of Feck

The only poet worth a damn in my opinion.

retalivity

Montage of Feck wrote: »

The only poet worth a damn in my opinion.

He's no Heaney

coffee_cake

Cant stand him

Thelonious Monk

Poetry sucks

Montage of Feck

Toads Revisited by Philip Larkin

Walking around in the park
Should feel better than work:
The lake, the sunshine,
The grass to lie on,

Blurred playground noises
Beyond black-stockinged nurses -
Not a bad place to be.
Yet it doesn't suit me.

Being one of the men
You meet of an afternoon:
Palsied old step-takers,
Hare-eyed clerks with the jitters,

Waxed-fleshed out-patients
Still vague from accidents,
And characters in long coats
Deep in the litter-baskets -

All dodging the toad work
By being stupid or weak.
Think of being them!
Hearing the hours chime,

Watching the bread delivered,
The sun by clouds covered,
The children going home;
Think of being them,

Turning over their failures
By some bed of lobelias,
Nowhere to go but indoors,
Nor friends but empty chairs -

No, give me my in-tray,
My loaf-haired secretary,
My shall-I-keep-the-call-in-Sir:
What else can I answer,

When the lights come on at four
At the end of another year?
Give me your arm, old toad;
Help me down Cemetery Road

Still waters

Kipling imo

khalessi

Heaney over Larkin
Eaven Boland
Rimbaud
Shakespeare
Linton Kwesi Johnson
Benjamin Zepphaniah
Spike Milligan

Montage of Feck

retalivity wrote: »

He's no Heaney

Nothing wrong with him I suppose, just at every wedding or funeral his stuff seems to get trotted out.

Flavour Diaper

Flavour Diaper

Still waters

I find the irish poets to be heavy going, great poets born out of poverty and misery and rebellious legacies, you need to be in the mood for them

Montage of Feck

Flavour Diaper wrote: »

Flavour Diaper

Never heard of them.

Still waters

Montage of Feck wrote: »

Nothing wrong with him I suppose, just at every wedding or funeral his stuff seems to get trotted out.

What kind of weddings do you be at that heaney is trotted out, I'd go to bed early if I thought I'd have to listen to that at half 3 in the residents bar

Quantum Erasure

Still waters wrote: »

Kipling imo

exceedingly good

Your Face

I always liked W.B. Yeats.
I remembered his poems from school. A few years ago got a book of his poetry.
There's something timeless about his style.

Rothko

Montage of Feck wrote: »

Nothing wrong with him I suppose, just at every wedding or funeral his stuff seems to get trotted out.

Never heard his stuff being read out at any wedding or funeral I've been at.

Montage of Feck

I posted Toads revisited as it almost perfectly describes the current lockdown situation.

Quantum Erasure

Emily Dickinson

Harry Palmr

Ah Emily Dickinson was a miserablist and the only woman on the LC reading list I think when I was a lad.

William McGonagall is where it's at.

"Beautiful railway bridge of the silv'ry Tay
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last sabbath day of 1879
Which will be remember'd for a very long time."

"Oh! Ill-fated bridge of the silv'ry Tay,
I now must conclude my lay
By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay,
That your central girders would not have given way,
At least many sensible men do say,
Had they been supported on each side with buttresses
At least many sensible men confesses,
For the stronger we our houses do build,
The less chance we have of being killed."

Esel

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Spanish Eyes

"I caught this morning morning's minions
Kingdom of daylight's Dauphin", etc.

I spent ages at LC level figuring out this GMH poem The Windhover. It has stayed with me until this day umpteen years later. Uplifting, but I love birds anyway!

Montage of Feck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

Truthvader

Read "Ambulances" for something topical by Larkin

Spanish Eyes

Craig Raine's

"A Martian sends a postcard home" always resonated with me. Looking at our world from another perspective outside our own. Loved it.

Spanish Eyes

I know the OP is about Philip Larkin, but threads like this tend to drift a bit..

Giraffe Box

John Cooper Clarke

Realt Dearg Sec

Your Face wrote: »

I always liked W.B. Yeats.
I remembered his poems from school. A few years ago got a book of his poetry.
There's something timeless about his style.

September 1913 is timeless.

Ipso

Giraffe Box wrote: »

John Cooper Clarke

Enter the dragon, exit Johnny Clarke.

Kylta

Still waters wrote: »

I find the irish poets to be heavy going, great poets born out of poverty and misery and rebellious legacies, you need to be in the mood for them

I studied irish history and literature and to be honest I find the writers and the poets depressing ( ok call me a heathen). Would I be right in saying its dated?

Still waters

Kylta wrote: »

I studied irish history and literature and to be honest I find the writers and the poets depressing ( ok call me a heathen). Would I be right in saying its dated?

It seems like any of them never got past the 50s, they all read like some depressing variation of Angela's ashes

Better Than Christ

"They bring you up, your mum and dad..."

Is this the same lad,who used play corner back for kk