Poet Laureate of Disappointment

Early in the morning the Philip Larkin statue at Hull Paragon Station looks like just another darkly clad person rushing to catch his train to get to work. The statue was inspired by the opening line of his poem The Whitsun Wedding (1964) which begins “I was getting late away”. Personally, it makes me think of the white rabbit from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. The 7 foot bronze statue was sculpted by Martin Jennings who also did the John Betjeman statue at London St. Pancras. Larkin holds onto his trilby hat with his left while clutching a manuscript under his right arm. He’s rushing towards the platforms surrounded by snippets of his own poetry, which are engraved on the floor such as this stanza from Days (1953):

What are days for?

Days are where we live.

They come, they wake us

Time and time over.

They are to be happy in:

Where can we live but days?

Who is Philip Larkin? 
He’s Hull’s little, big treasure. Born in Coventry in 1922 Larkin studied English language and literature at Oxford University. He worked as a librarian in Wellington, Shropshire and Belfast before moving to Hull in 1955 where he lived until his death thirty years later. In Hull he worked at the Brynmore Jones Library; a place where I spent too many hours on Sunday evenings trying to finish my dissertation.

He is one of England’s most popular poets and is also known as the poet laureate of disappointment. I cannot deny that this makes me smile. Hull, poetry, disappointment, grimness... and now we also have a lugubrious poet laureate of disappointment! Larkin was offered the post of poet laureate in 1984 but he actually declined as he wasn’t one to be the centre of attention and besides he didn’t feel like he had written any meaningful poetry in a long time. A year later he died of cancer.

Larkin Toad at Museums Quarter

I first heard of him during my first year at Nijmegen University when we read his poems This be the Verse (1971). From what I can tell he wasn’t the most cheerful character but rather cynical and sceptical. This shows itself beautifully when he talks about Hull. He is known for describing it as a "dump" and in regards to living here he said: 'I don't suppose I'm unhappier there than I should be anywhere else.' Clearly the kind of person you want to surround yourself with! Well, we’ll just take that as a compliment. Hull seems strangely fitting for such gloomy character, though. It’s the attitude that comes with talking about Hull. Everyone is aware of its, in my opinion, hugely undeserved bad reputation. You have to take the good with the bad and when you talk about Hull you cannot say that it is amazing because plenty of things are wrong with it. But I like it! So I find his phrasing hits the nail on the head. After all, a huge part of your happiness is linked to what you make of a place.

When I came to Hull in 2010 the city was busy commemorating Larkin’s life and opus in an event called the Larkin 25. Centrepiece of this festival were forty toad sculptures scattered all across the city. Why toads? Because Larkin wrote a poem called Toads (1954). The sculptures were later put up for auction and raised £60,000 for charity. I remember there being toads everywhere, when I got here and one of my quests was to find every single one of them. Sadly, I did not succeed because at the time I didn’t know that the toads were only on display temporarily. Quite a few toads are still around though so keep your eyes peeled. The Larkin 25 ended with the unveiling of his statue at the station on 2nd December 2010, exactly 25 years after he died. I have yet to find his grave in Cottingham and I haven’t taken a photo of his house at Pearson Park either... so... see ye later!