The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century English Verse

by Philip Larkin (Editor)

"I have taken "twentieth-century English verse" to mean verse written in English by writers born in these islands (or resident here for an appreciable time) who were alive during the twentieth century and during it made or added to their reputations.' --Larkin, 1971

Genres: Poetry, Reference, Poetry Plays

641 pages, Hardcover

First published March 29, 1972

About the author

Philip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL, was an English poet, novelist and jazz critic. He spent his working life as a university librarian and was offered the Poet Laureateship following the death of John Betjeman, but declined the post. Larkin is commonly regarded as one of the greatest English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century. He first came to prominence with the release of his third collection The Less Deceived in 1955. The Whitsun Weddings and High Windows followed in 1964 and 1974. In 2003 Larkin was chosen as "the nation's best-loved poet" in a survey by the Poetry Book Society, and in 2008 The Times named Larkin as the greatest post-war writer.

Larkin was born in city of Coventry, England, the only son and younger child of Sydney Larkin (1884–1948), city treasurer of Coventry, who came from Lichfield, and his wife, Eva Emily Day (1886–1977), of Epping. From 1930 to 1940 he was educated at King Henry VIII School in Coventry, and in October 1940, in the midst of the Second World War, went up to St John's College, Oxford, to read English language and literature. Having been rejected for military service because of his poor eyesight, Larkin was able, unlike many of his contemporaries, to follow the traditional full-length degree course, taking a first-class degree in 1943. Whilst at Oxford he met Kingsley Amis, who would become a lifelong friend and frequent correspondent. Shortly after graduating he was appointed municipal librarian at Wellington, Shropshire. In 1946, he became assistant librarian at University College, Leicester and in 1955 sub-librarian at Queen's University, Belfast. In March 1955, Larkin was appointed librarian at The University of Hull, a position he retained until his death.

Reviews

[Magdelanye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovingly inscribed by my grandfather,my battered copy ofThe Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1918 Arthur Quiller-Couch is with me still. Its range and scope seemed to ignore conventional restrictions and though it never occurred to me to read it cover to cover, over the years of wandering through its pages I developed my preferences and found that they mutated with the decades.

This volume edited by Philip Larkin and published in 1973 is obviously not the most recent edition and I did read it cover to cover, skipping only the ending of a long poem I didnt like. It picks up roughly where my volume ends, although there is a bit of overlap of poets, for the most part the selections were different. It ends alas in the early 70's when things were really shifting.

For those interested, you can see many of my favorite quotes in the status updates that I wrote over the months.

Before we write off entirely the dead poets, we might do well to read this volume.

[Neale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an intriguing collection, largely for the light it throws on its deviser, Philip Larkin. I have an early edition, a library discard, discoloured and shabby, with an unlovely picture by Stanley Spencer on its dustjacket: it seems appropriately Larkinesque.

Larkin is clearly trying to draw attention to poetry that flourished outside of the dominant school of modernism, although the usual high modernist suspects are all there too. Unfortunately there is not much in the extra-curricular poems that he chooses to inspire enthusiasm (a fact which he admitted privately). I suspect this type of understated poetry wilts between the heavy pages of an anthology. I am sure the poems read much better in their original slim volumes, where Larkin discovered them.

Overall, I find the reading of the book somewhat dispiriting but not unpleasingly melancholy, with its roll-call of faded and forgotten poets - all of them no doubt worthy of rediscovery, but not in this format. It would have fared better as an anthology devoted purely to lesser known poems. Still, it is a treasure trove in its own right.

(And it is my own failure, but despite Larkin’s advocacy I simply cannot take to the poetry of Hardy with anything like his enthusiasm.)

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wonderful book sits upon my desk at work.

Whenever I have a spare moment I open it at a marked favourite or just see what is available on the page that falls open.

John Betjeman, Brian Patten, Rupert Brooke, AE Housman, Wilfred Owen, Siegfired Sassoon, Ted Hughes, Stevie Smith, WB Yeats and WH Auden are amongst my favourites.

It does not contain all of the works of each poet, nor does it include some of their best, but what it does have goes together wonderfully to make a smashing collection.

A perfect stress buster.

[Robin Helweg-Larsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This anthology edited by Philip Larkin (which, despite its title, only goes up to the early 1970s) is the most comprehensive, diverse and inspiring collection of formal and semi-formal poetry that I have ever come across. It has, naturally, some free verse... but even that is entertaining in this selection.

The book has no one born before 1840 (Blunt and Hardy), no Matthew Arnold, no Gerard Manley Hopkins (died 1889), so there are almost no Thee's and Thou's... except from Robert Bridges.

It has no one born after 1946 (Brian Patten); poets of today are not in this book.

Larkin chose to exclude writers not "born in these islands (or resident here for an appreciable time)", which lets him include Kipling and Eliot as well as any Scots, Welsh or Irish that he chooses, but cuts out E.E. Cummings, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Frost... And Larkin makes no explanation or apology for including Derek Walcott who, born in St. Lucia, lived his life between the Caribbean and the US.

So the anthology is not as complete as could be hoped; but, with 584 poems by 207 poets in 625 pages, it is enormously wide-ranging and full of not just the best of Yeats, Eliot, Auden, but also unexpected treasures by authors barely known today. Here is T.E. Hulme's 'The Embankment', subtitled '(The fantasia of a fallen gentleman on a cold, bitter night)':

Once, in finesse of fiddles found I ecstasy,
In a flash of gold heels on the hard pavement.
Now see I
That warmth's the very stuff of poesy.
Oh, God, make small
The old star-eaten blanket of the sky,
That I may fold it round me and in comfort lie.

And in contrast, here is 'An Epitaph' by Colin Ellis:

He worshipped at the altar of Romance
(Tried to seduce a woman half his age)
And dared to stake his fortune on a chance
(Gambled away his children's heritage).

He valued only what the world held cheap
(Refused to work, from laziness and pride):
Dreams were his refuge and he welcomed sleep
(He failed at business, took to drink and died).

All types of ("English") 20th century verse are in the anthology. It is the most wonderful, wonderful read.

[Richard Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's taken me nearly a year to read my way through this book, which I've owned for perhaps 40 years. I'd dipped into it many times over those years and often used it to find particular poems, but prompted ironically by reading poems on a Kindle I took a few years ago to reading poetry books right through. It's been rewarding in that I've encountered poems by poets I've never heard of, but it can be a slog.

Larkin, as he says in his one page introduction, mostly went for poems rather than poets, so this anthology contains many poems by poets I'd never heard of, Some of the poems were unmemorable and some incomprehensible, but there were gems.

Only about 30 poets--Hardy, Yeats, Eliot, Auden, Thomas, Hughes, etc--had to be included, showing how most poets are forgotten.

[Kieran Parkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book out at my local library. I've always enjoyed poetry and with this collection I discovered new poets including my new favourite thomas hardy. Some poems dont appeal to everyone and rereading wilfred owen took me back.

I absolutely loved it

[CCCubbon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to check which women poets were included and had a hard time finding them.
Puzzled I checked.
There are 207 poets recorded, 182 men, 24 women, 1 unknown which is pretty dreadful. No wonder someone complained about male bias.
I should not have been surprised if this book was about poets from earlier centuries but this is plain wrong for the twentieth century.

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a huge lover of poetry, but I find it quite tiresome to read big collections like it. I prefer to read a collection of poems from just one author, like 'Mean Time', 'The Whitsun Weddings', or 'Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair'.

I did enjoy finding some new poets that I love, though! So that's definitely a plus!

[PAUL DEWSON · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting selection by Philip Larkin, containing some old favourites and poets and poems I have never come across. That's the great thing about reading poetry anthologies like this, it's a voyage of discovery.

[Richard Epstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a surprising bad anthology, which is not Larkin's fault. In truth, it finely illustration the difficulty of guessing what the best poems of your own time are going to be, also known as "predicting the future" or "fortunetelling": "You will meet a tall dark sonnet." (Oscar Williams, of course, offers the best/worst example.) There are a lot of bad guesses in this anthology.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like a lot of the different poets in this collection, but I didn’t like the majority of the poems included. About old maids, foolish woman, ruined love… I felt it had a very anti woman theme to them.

[Lawrence Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent anthology. As with all such, one could argue about the selections, but in the event Mr. Larkin did his job well and as a reflection of the year, 1973, of publication. Further editions by further editors will see it differently, and that's as it should be.

[Jocelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a college class years ago - still reread it and discover new treasures.

[Alec · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I had to choose one volume of poetry for the Island, this would be my second choice after the collected Auden. In other words, I love it.