philip larkin context

Question 1

Where was Larkin born?

Answer 1

Coventry

Question 2

What was the names of Larkins parents?

Answer 2

Sidney + Eva

Question 3

What sort of marriage did Larkins parents have?

Answer 3

Troubled + toxic

Question 4

What did Larkins father do?

Answer 4

Admired Hitler

Question 5

Which poems show Larkin’s views of relationships?

Answer 5

Selfs the man
Talking in bed
Dockery + son

Question 6

What music did Larkin love? Why is this ironic?

Answer 6

Jazz music
Ironic bc he was a racist

Question 7

Where did Larkin initially get a job as a librarian?

Answer 7

Queens Belfast

Question 8

What job did Larkin do in Queens Belfast?

Answer 8

Librarian

Question 9

What did Larkin do at Hull uni?

Answer 9

Became a librarian

Question 10

Who did Larkin meet at Hull? Which poem was written about this person?

Answer 10

Maeve Brennan
The Broadcast

Question 11

Who was Larkin dating whilst he started a relationship w Maeve Brennan?

Answer 11

Monca Jones

Question 12

What did Larkin love? Where is this shown?

Answer 12

Loved animals
‘Take one home for the kiddies’

Question 13

What group was Larkin a part of?

Answer 13

The movement

Question 14

What did the Movement do?

Answer 14

Rejected the elitist nature of modern writing - celebrated quotidian (everyday) life

Question 15

What was kitchen sink poetry?

Answer 15

Every day poetry

Question 16

Which school did Larkin go to?

Answer 16

King Henry School

Question 17

Where did Larkin go to university? What did he study?

Answer 17

Oxford uni
English

Question 18

Where did Larkin get a job first? Who did he meet on this job?

Answer 18

A librarian in Wellington
Ruth Bowmen

Question 19

Who was Larkin engaged to at one point? What happened?

Answer 19

Ruth Bowmen
They broke up

Question 20

Which poem mentions Ruth Bowmen?

Answer 20

Wild oats

Question 21

Who was mentioned in Wild oats?

Answer 21

Ruth Bowmen

Question 22

Who was Larkin influenced by? (1)

Answer 22

Thomas Hardy

Question 23

What outlook did Tom Hardy have on life?

Answer 23

Bleak + tragic outlook on life

Question 24

Who influenced Larkin? (2)

Answer 24

W.B. Yeats

Question 25

What was Larkin's view on life?

Answer 25

Nihilism

Question 26

What did Larkin say about love + statues? What poem is this about?

Answer 26

"Love isn't stronger than death just because statues hold hands for 600 years" Arundale Tombs

Question 27

What does Golding say about Larkin's poetry?

Answer 27

His poetry simply reflected his own life

Question 28

Who said Larkin's poetry reflected his life?

Answer 28

Golding

Question 29

What did Larkin call his mother?

Answer 29

A rambling fool

Question 30

How did Larkin refer to married life?

Answer 30

Bloody hell

Question 31

What did Golding say about the Whitsun Weddings?

Answer 31

The Whitsun Weddings dwells on the futility of existence

Question 32

Who says the Whitsun Weddings dwells on the futility of existence?

Answer 32

Golding

Question 33

What does Cox say about Larkin?

Answer 33

Larkin feels cheated by existence

Question 34

Who says Larkin feels cheated by existence?

Answer 34

Cox

Question 35

What does Navemore say about Larkin?

Answer 35

Larkin rarely presents himself as anything but the onlooker

Question 36

Who says Larkin rarely presents himself as anything but the onlooker?

Answer 36

Navemore

Question 37

Who calls Larkin a hopeless + inflexible pessimist?

Answer 37

Appleyard

Question 38

What is nihilism?

Answer 38

The believe that existence + life is futile + pointless

Question 39

Which book was the first to mention nihilism?

Answer 39

'Fathers and Sons' by Turgenev

Question 40

What political background did Larkin come from? For how long?

Answer 40

Conservative up until the 1960s

Question 41

What would Larkin long for?

Answer 41

The days when the poor workers would follow him home and ask for money in exchange for unloading his luggage

Question 42

What did the Black Power Movement do to Larkin? Why was this?

Answer 42

Destroyed his love for jazz He wanted the time when black people entertained white people for free

Question 43

Which Prime Minister did Larkin love?

Answer 43

Margaret Thatcher

Question 44

What does Appleyard call Larkin?

Answer 44

Larkin is a hopeless + inflexible pessimist