Larkin and Duffy Critics

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'There is a lucidity of language which invites understanding even when the ideas expressed are paradoxical or complex'
Peter R. King on the clarity of Larkin's writing.
1 of 35
'Larkin seldom presents himself as anything but the onlooker'
James Naremore - Larkin's perspective in his poems.
2 of 35
'His writing is driven by a sense of failure in both'
Andrew Swarbrick - In reference to Larkin's life and work.
3 of 35
'At the center of Larkin's poetry is the pursuit of self-definition, a self which feels threatened by the proximity of others but which fears that without relationship with otherness the self has no validity'
Andrew Swarbrick - Larkin feels as if one is defined by their connections and relationships.
4 of 35
'Larkin's poetry is the pursuit of difference'
Andrew Swarbrick - Larkin aims to differentiate himself from other poets.
5 of 35
'Don't judge me by them. Some are better than me, but I add up to more than they do'
Philip Larkin - Does not wish to be defined by his poetry.
6 of 35
'Larkin presents himself as a skeptical, less deceived observer of contemporary life'
James Naremore - Larkin often comments on contemporary life.
7 of 35
'Let me remember that the only married state I know (i.e that of my parents) is bloody hell. Never must it be forgotten'
Philip Larkin in his diary - Bitter views on marriage.
8 of 35
Larkin's collection presents 'a poetry from which even people who distrust poetry, most people, can take comfort and delight'
X. J. Kennedy (Poet and anthologist)
9 of 35
Larkin produced 'the most technically brilliant and resonantly beautiful, profoundly disturbing yet appealing and approachable, body of verse of any English poet in the last 25 years'
Alan Brownjohn (Poet and novelist)
10 of 35
Poetry reflects the dreariness of postwar provincial England and voices 'most articulately and poignantly the spiritual desolation of a world in which men have shed the last rags of religious faith that once meant meaning and hope to human lives'
The general Press.
11 of 35
Larkin wrote 'in clipped, lucid stanzas, about the failures and remorse of age, about stunted lives and spoiled desires'
J. D. McClatchy (Poet and critic)
12 of 35
Larkin was 'the saddest heart of the post-war supermarket'
Unanimously agreed by critics.
13 of 35
"[he writes] like something almost being said...it is a study of self-pity"
Larkin - Christopher Ricks
14 of 35
'I must... sit down on a lonely rock and contemplate glittering loneliness. Marriage... is impossible if one wants to do this'
Larkin in a letter to Jim Sutton
15 of 35
"Death, in Larkin's view, is an utterly comfortless blank.
Larkin - Andrew Motion
16 of 35
"none of Larkin's poems registers the achievement of complete calm success in love"
Larkin - Andrew Motion
17 of 35
"he is an advocate of misanthropy and pessimism"
Larkin - Applewood
Mr Bleaney
18 of 35
"Larkin is anti-life"
Larkin - Martin Amis
19 of 35
"Love isn't stronger than death just because statues hold hands for 600 years"
Larkin - Larkin
20 of 35
"Larkin is a hopeless and inflexible pessimist"
Larkin - Bryan Appleyard
21 of 35
'Duffy's concern with the duplicitous nature of language is matched by a concern for the way language can alienate, creating a sense of otherness and distance'
Bernard O'Keeffe - Duffy's use of language to create distance.
22 of 35
'Many of Duffy's poems echo themes of Larkin's'
Justin Quinn - Similarities between Larkin and Duffy.
23 of 35
'She has an optimistic side that Larkin did not, most visible in her many love poems'
Jody Allen-Randolph - Differences between Larkin and Duffy.
24 of 35
'Duffy shares Larkin's tragic views of life...loneliness haunts her verse'
Jody Allen-Randolph - Similarities between Larkin and Duffy's view of life.
25 of 35
'With a lot of artists, the mystique is to baffle their readership. She never does that. Her aim is to communicate'
Calvin Tomkins - Duffy's aim is to communicate.
26 of 35
'Poetry and prayer are very similar'
Duffy on the similarities of poetry and prayer.
27 of 35
'Poetry, above all, is a series of intense moments - its power is not in narrative. I'm not dealing with facts, I'm dealing with emotion'
Duffy of poetry as a form of expressing emotion.
28 of 35
'There was a mixture of direct address and something slightly surreal, fanciful, tender-hearted and whimsical'
Andrew Motion - The nature of many of Duffy's poems.
29 of 35
'She is extraordinarily well balanced, in her work and in her life'
Andrew Motion - Duffy's strong sense of direction and vocation.
30 of 35
Duffy moves beyond 'a straightforward feminist poet' and shows 'the difficulties that patriarchy present to both men and women'
Deryn Reese-Jones - Duffy is not a straightforward feminist poet.
31 of 35
"there's a persistent sense in her work that love involves as much suffering as it does joy"
Duffy - John Preston
32 of 35
"challenges and alters power relationships by making women both the subject and object of love poems"
Duffy - Eavan Boland
Havisham
33 of 35
"Duffy's poetry was filled with lost loves and yearning for the past"
Duffy - Kathrine Viner
34 of 35
'insight into such disturbed minds'
Elizabeth O'Reily
35 of 35

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

'Larkin seldom presents himself as anything but the onlooker'

Back

James Naremore - Larkin's perspective in his poems.

Card 3

Front

'His writing is driven by a sense of failure in both'

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

'At the center of Larkin's poetry is the pursuit of self-definition, a self which feels threatened by the proximity of others but which fears that without relationship with otherness the self has no validity'

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

'Larkin's poetry is the pursuit of difference'

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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