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Philip Larkin by Andrew Motion6/28/2023 ![]() Firstly, he accidentally kills a hedgehog, with his lawn mower. The only two times, in the entire book, that I found any sympathy with Larkin was in two events towards the end of his life. ![]() Motion will say (paraphrased) Larkin hated foreigners, treated his women (including mum) appallingly, sometimes appeared to know only four letter adjectives, but was, really, a nice man. Motion professes to have been a friend of Larkin but the book, which the London Review of Books described as, "Honest but not prurient", often reads to me as 'catty'. Larkin knew that he was somewhat lacking in the social skills. It is hard to know how far to blame Larkin, and where to put the responsibility onto Andrew Motion's shoulders. I knew that reading a biography of Larkin could destroy any enjoyment of his poetry and, sadly, that is what this book has done. It is not that they make you laugh, but that I have to like the poet to like his/her work. ![]() Poets are a bit like comedians, in my book. ![]()
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