‘The Whitsun Weddings’ is usually regarded as one of Philip Larkin’s brighter poems: a beautiful evocation of romantic love, with newlyweds riding the train to London against a backdrop of town and country scenes. The visual detail is gorgeous, like a succession of paintings by Constable, Lowry and Beryl Cook. In the context of Larkin’s […]
Larkin
Philip Larkin — ‘A Study of Reading Habits’
Following on from Auden’s American accent, I’ve discovered the reverse phenomenon in Larkin’s Sunday Sessions. In ‘A Study of Reading Habits’ he uses the American word ‘dude’ — which, in the recorded version, he pronounces ‘dyood’ (instead of the usual ‘dood’) in a very arch Received Pronunciation. It’s very funny. And I’m guessing deliberately conservative, […]
Philip Larkin — The Sunday Sessions
Required listening for Larkin fans — The Sunday Sessions — a recently rediscovered recording of the poet reading some of his best poems: The Sunday Sessions consists of twenty-six poems, the contents of two tapes recorded by Philip Larkin in Hull in February 1980 — reportedly each on a Sunday after lunch with John weeks, […]