The Complete Poems of Philip Larkin

This entirely new edition brings together all of Philip Larkin's poems. In addition to those in "Collected Poems" (1988), and in the "Early Poems and Juvenilia" (2005), some unpublished pieces from Larkin's typescripts and workbooks are included, as well as verse (by turns scurrilous, satirical, affectionate, and sentimental) tucked away in his letters. The manuscript and printed sources have been scrutinized afresh; more detailed accounts than hitherto available of the sources of the text and of dates of composition are provided; and, previous accounts of composition dates have been corrected. Variant wordings from Larkin's typescripts and the early printings are recorded. For the first time, the poems are given a comprehensive commentary. This draws critically upon, and substantially extends, the accumulated scholarship on Larkin, and covers closely relevant historical contexts, persons and places, allusions and echoes, and linguistic usage. Due prominence is given to the poet's comments on his poems, which often outline the circumstances that gave rise to a poem, or state what he was trying to achieve. Larkin played down his literariness, but his poetry enrichingly alludes to and echoes the writings of many others; Archie Burnett's commentary establishes him as a more complex and more literary poet than many readers have suspected.

ISBN 0571240062   Pages 768 ISBN13 9780571240067 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 1320 Publisher Faber and Faber   Published in London Imprint Faber and Faber   Height (mm) 242 Format Hardback   Width (mm) 166 Publication date 19 Jan 2012   Spine width (mm) 60 DEWEY 821.914   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC23

 Be the first to write a customer review