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Article: They turn on Larkin. (Philip Larkin) (Poetry Today)
- Article from:
- The Antioch Review
- Article date:
- January 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Antioch Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Now that Philip Larkin has succumbed to the death he abhorred, that "anaesthetic from which none come round," one can see some real advantage to its dreaded sensory deprivations, for while Larkin may have failed to escape death's clutches, he has at least escaped the deadly clutches of his critics. Not even the most casual observer of the English literary scene can fail to have noticed that in the past few months many big guns have turned on Britain's best-loved poet. Ironically, it' s publications by friends that have prompted this zealous bombardment - first, last year's collection of Larkin's letters, edited by Anthony Thwaite (who edited Larkin's collected poems and ...