Collected Poems

Rating:
Summary: GOAT
Review: This is possibly the greatest collection of poetry by a single author in one volume ever produced.

Rating:
Summary: Very Rewarding Reading
Review: This is the standard edition of Larkin's poetry. Larkin did not publish a great deal in his lifetime and the addition of a number of previously unpublished poems adds a good deal to his canon. Even with these additions, Larkin was not prolific and wrote no long poems. His reputation rests on a number of short poems written in a characteristic and deceptively simple style. Larkin achieved both accessibility and considerable power with direct, chiselled lyrics that use relatively simple words, metaphors, and allusions. His best poems deal with uncertainty, anxiety, the problems of aging, and aspects of personal disappointment. This wouldn't seem to be very promising but Larkin captures eloquently important aspects of life. There are also some fine and short nature poems. Easy to read and very rewarding.

Rating:
Summary: Very Rewarding Reading
Review: This is the standard edition of Larkin's poetry. Larkin did not publish a great deal in his lifetime and the addition of a number of previously unpublished poems adds a good deal to his canon. Even with these additions, Larkin was not prolific and wrote no long poems. His reputation rests on a number of short poems written in a characteristic and deceptively simple style. Larkin achieved both accessibility and considerable power with direct, chiselled lyrics that use relatively simple words, metaphors, and allusions. His best poems deal with uncertainty, anxiety, the problems of aging, and aspects of personal disappointment. This wouldn't seem to be very promising but Larkin captures eloquently important aspects of life. There are also some fine and short nature poems. Easy to read and very rewarding.

Rating:
Summary: amazing
Review: Without a doubt Philip Larkin is one of the most loved and most respected poets in the English language. And all you have to do is read his poems to understand why. He has technical mastery, a command of the English language, and he speaks to all of us not just the professors and intellectuals. And there are any number of poems of his that are wonderful and that we can all love. Here are just a few of my favorites:

Traumerei; At Grass; Mother, Summer, I; Reasons for Attendance; I Remember, I Remember; Church Going; Maiden Name; First Sight; The Whitsun Weddings; Letter to a Friend about Girls; Faith Healing; High Windows; Sympathy in White Major; This Be the Verse (my absolute favorite); Cut Grass; The Old Fools; Morning at last: there in the snow; The little lives of earth and form; and Aubade.

Read him and you'll love him too.