Publication details of Vers de Societé:

1971

Other literary works include:

The North Ship (1945)
The Less Deceived (1955)
The Whitsun Weddings (1964)
High Windows (1974)

Born:

Philip Arthur Larkin was born on August 9, 1922, in Coventry.

Early years:

Schooling:

He attended the City's King Henry VIII School between 1930 and 1940. After leaving King Henry VIII, he went to St. John's College, Oxford, graduating in 1943 with a First Class Honours in English.

Career:

The first of his poems to be published in a national weekly was 'Ultimatum', which appeared in the Listener, November 28, 1940. Then in June 1943, three of his poems were published in Oxford Poetry (1942-43) .

He was ppointed Librarian at Wellington, Shropshire, in November of 1943. Here, he studied to qualify as a professional librarian, but continued to write and publish. In 1945, ten of his poems, which later that year would be included in The North Ship, appeared in Poetry from Oxford in Wartime. Two novels, Jill and A Girl in Winter were published in 1946 and 1947 respectively.

In October 1955 The Less Deceived was published. It was this collection that would be the foundation of his reputation as one of the foremost figures in 20th Century poetry. It wasn't until 1964 that his next collection, The Whitsun Weddings was published. Again, the collection was well received, and widely acclaimed, and the following year, Larkin was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.

Final years:

His last collection High Windows was published in 1974, and confirmed him as one of the finest poets in English Literary history.

Died:

1985