A Revaluation of the Works of Philip Larkin in the Light of his Critical Views

Abstract

This thesis focuses on Larkin's evolution as a poet through an extensive examination of his "oeuvre". It examines his two novels in addition to his poetic output in the light of his critical views. Larkin's critical views are derived from his letters, reviews, interviews and biography. The thesis formulates, what might be called, Larkin's theory of literature through showing his views concerning: the functions of poetry, the nature of poetic expression, the poet's relation with his audience, the difference between literary genres and the role of the author in each one of them. It employs "authorial criticism" and argues that an author can be a self-critic.

Chanter One: focuses on Larkin's critical views and examines, in details, his relationship with the Movement, the most prominent literary tendency during the 1950s.

Chapter Two: offers an analysis of Larkin's first novel Jill (1946). The analysis is based on what Larkin regarded as the essential elements of the novel as a literary genre and of his own concept of "the novel as a dramatic poem". The chapter discusses disillusionment as the major theme in Larkin's poetry and prose.

Chapter Three: examines Larkin's second novel A Girl in Winter (1947), detecting the same elements previously mentioned in chapter two. It also lays emphasis on how Larkin's writing of fection contributed to his evolution as a poet.

Chapter Four: examines Larkin's early poetry including his first anthology Tile North Ship (1945) together with the earlier poems that made their first appearance in the Collected Poems (1988). This chapter also discusses Larkin's mature poetry published in his three succeeding anthologies. It applies the critical views to the poems, and pays special attention to the influence Thomas Hardy exerted on the mature Larkin. Moreover, it trances Larkin's concepts of disillusionment throughout the themes he tackled.