High Windows

This article is about the book of poems by Philip Larkin. For other uses, see High Windows (disambiguation).
High Windows

First edition
Author Philip Larkin
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre Poetry
Published 1974 (Faber and Faber)
ISBN 0-571-20275-6
OCLC 46613746

High Windows is a collection of poems by English poet Philip Larkin, and was published in 1974 by Faber and Faber Limited. The readily available paperback version was first published in Britain in 1979. The collection is the last publication of new poetry by Larkin before his death in 1985, and it contains some of his most famous poems, including the title piece, "High Windows", "Dublinesque", and "This Be The Verse".[1] The collection contains themes presented in his earlier collections, though the tone of the poems caused critics to suggest the book is darker and more "socially engaged" than his earlier volumes.[1][2][3][4] It is currently on the AQA AS/A2 level English Literature syllabus.

Poems

The volume contains 24 poems:

SequencePoem titleCompletion date
1To the SeaOct 1969 (best known date)
2Sympathy in White Major 31 Aug 1967
3The Trees 02 Jun 1967
4Livings: I, II, III10 Dec 1971
5Forget What Did 06 Aug 1971
6High Windows 12 Feb 1967
7Friday Night in the Royal Station Hotel 20 May 1966
8The Old Fools 12 Jan 1973
9Going, Going 25 Jan 1972
10The Card-Players6 May 1970
11The Building 09 Feb 1972
12Posterity 17 Jun 1968
13Dublinesque 06 Jun 1970
14Homage to a Government 10 Jan 1969
15This Be The Verse Apr 1971 (best known date)
16How Distant 24 Nov 1965
17Sad Steps 24 Apr 1968
18Solar 04 Nov 1964
19Annus Mirabilis 16 Jul 1967
20Vers de Société 19 May 1971
21Show Saturday 03 Dec 1973
22Money 19 Feb 1973
23Cut Grass 03 Jun 1971
24The Explosion 05 Jan 1970

Critical reception

Clive James, in As of this writing, describes High Windows as Larkin's bleakest volume of poetry, though he does admit that there are aspects of the poetry that contain the humour found in Larkin's earlier books of poetry. James suggests that Larkin has never liked the idea of a poet "Developing" and that Larkin himself remains the same throughout his career as a poet. High Windows, in James's opinion, shows that Larkin simply strives, with the addition of each poem, to state more clearly the same principles shown by his early works and concludes that "The total impression of High Windows is of despair made beautiful." [4]

Blurb

The following is the blurb from the published book.

"When Philip Larkin's High Windows first appeared, Kingsley Amis spoke for a large and loyal readership when he wrote:

'Larkin's admirers need only be told that he is as good as ever here, if not slightly better.' Like Betjeman and Hardy, Larkin is a poet who can move a large audience — to laughter and to tears — without betraying the highest artistic standards."

References

  1. 1 2 Cooper, Stephen.Philip Larkin: Subversive Writer. Sussex Academic Press (2004)p.170
  2. Swarbrick, Andrew. Out of Reach: The Poetry of Philip Larkin London Macmillan (1995)pp.122-123
  3. Regan, Stephen. Philip Larkin. Palgrave Macmillan (1997) p.124
  4. 1 2 James, Clive. As of This Writing.W. W. Norton & Company(2003)p.57
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, May 26, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.