Beyond 1963

It’s usually impossible to read about the British poet Philip Larkin without coming across his famous stanza from “Annus Mirabilis”:

Sexual intercourse began
In nineteen sixty-three
(which was rather late for me) –
Between the end of the “Chatterley” ban
And the Beatles’ first LP.

Over on Slate Macalester College Professor Stephen Burt takes an informed look at Larkin on the occasion of the publication of a new edition of Larkin’s Collected Poems, without even mentioning “Annus Mirabilis”: “The poet of dirty words.”

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses