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Have you ever heard of the author Philip Larkin? He was an accomplished author; in fact, he was once offered the Pet Laureate position!
He was offered, but declined, the position of Poet Laureate in 1984, following the death of Sir John Betjeman.
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Philip Larkin
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Philip Larkin
Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist and librarian. His first book of poetry, "The North Ship", was published in 1945, followed by two novels, "Jill" (1946) and "A Girl in Winter" (1947), and he came to prominence in 1955 with the publication of his second collection of poems, "The Less Deceived", followed by "The Whitsun Weddings" (1964) and "High Windows" (1974). He contributed to "The Daily Telegraph" as its jazz critic from 1961 to 1971, articles gathered in "All What Jazz: A Record Diary 1961–71" (1985), and he edited "The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse" (1973).
Andrew Motion
Sir Andrew Motion (born 26 October 1952) is an English poet, novelist, and biographer, who was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009. During the period of his laureateship, Motion founded the Poetry Archive, an online resource of poems and audio recordings of poets reading their own work. In 2012, he became President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, taking over from Bill Bryson. Motion was born on 26 October 1952 in London; his mother was Catherine Gillian Bakewell (known as Gillian) and his father Andrew Richard Michael Motion (known as Richard). The family moved to Stisted, near Braintree in Essex, when Motion was 12 years old.
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull ( ), usually abbreviated to Hull, is a city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber estuary, 25 miles (40 km) inland from the North Sea, with a population of (). The town of Hull was founded late in the 12th century. The monks of Meaux Abbey needed a port where the wool from their estates could be exported. They chose a place at the confluence of the rivers Hull and Humber to build a quay. The exact year the town was founded is not known but it was first mentioned in 1193. Renamed "Kings-town upon Hull" by King Edward I in 1299, Hull has been a market town, military supply port, trading hub, fishing and whaling centre and industrial metropolis.
Brunette Coleman
Brunette Coleman was a pseudonym used by the poet and writer Philip Larkin. In 1943, towards the end of his time as an undergraduate at St John's College, Oxford, he wrote several works of fiction, verse and critical commentary under that name. The style he adopted parodies that of popular writers of contemporary girls' school fiction, but the extent of the stories' homoerotic content suggests they were written primarily for adult male titillation. The Coleman oeuvre consists of a completed novella, "Trouble at Willow Gables", set in a girls' boarding school; an incomplete sequel, "Michaelmas Term at St Brides", set in a women's college at Oxford; seven short poems with a girls' school ambience; a fragment of pseudo-autobiography; and a critical essay purporting to be Coleman's literary apologia.
List of U.S. states' Poets Laureate
Many of the states in the United States have established the post of poet laureate to which a prominent poet residing in the respective state is appointed. The responsibilities of the state poets laureate are similar to those of the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom and the equivalent Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in the United States, to make public appearances at poetry readings or literary events, and to promote awareness of poetry within their geographical region. , 46 states and the District of Columbia have poets laureate, although a few are presently vacant.
Relationships that influenced Philip Larkin
Throughout the life of the poet Philip Larkin a number of women had important roles which were notable influences on his poetry. Since Larkin's death biographers have highlighted the importance of female relationships on Larkin: when Andrew Motion's biography was serialised in the Independent in 1993, the second instalment of extracts was dedicated to the topic. In 1999 Ben Brown's play "Larkin with Women" dramatised Larkin's relationships with three of his lovers, and more recently writers such as Martin Amis have continued to comment on this subject. Another important influence on Larkin was his long-standing friend Kingsley Amis.
Poet laureate
A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, who is often expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. The Italians Albertino Mussato and Francesco Petrarca were the first to be crowned poets laureate after the classical age, respectively in 1315 and 1342. In Britain, the term dates from the appointment of Bernard André by Henry VII of England. In modern times, the title may also be conferred by an organization such as the Poetry Foundation, which has a designated Children's Poet Laureate. Other examples are the Pikes Peak Poet Laureate, which is designated by a "Presenting Partners" group from within the community; the Minnesota Poet Laureate chosen by the League of Minnesota Poets (est.