‘They Fuck You Up Your Mum and Dad’ Philip Larkin ‘They Fuck You Up Your Mum and Dad’

They fuck you up, your mum and dad, They may not mean to but they do They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra just for you. But they were fucked up in their turn By fools in old style hats and coats Who half the time were soppy-stern And half at one another's throats. Man hands on misery to man. It deepens like a coastal shelf. Get out as early as you can And don't have any kids yourself.

Born: 1922 Died: 1985 His story…… Life Summary Philip Larkin was born in Coventry. Years later Larkin described his childhood home as "dull, pot-bound and slightly mad..." At the age of 18 he entered St. John's College, Oxford. He studied English, met Kingsley Amis, listened to jazz, and was known as a bookish dandy.

Life…. During World War II he was exempted from service because of bad eyes. After graduating he became a librarian, first in the library of an urban district council in Shropshire, later in university libraries in Leicester and Belfast. From 1955 until his death he was the librarian of the Brynmor Jones library at the University of Hull, which he built up a staff of eleven to over 100

Marriage & Death Although he had a number of affairs, Larkin feared marriage and family, and never married. "Two can live as stupidly as one," he said. Larkin managed to maintain three long relationships Shortly after refusing the Laureateship when his friend John Betjeman died, Larkin underwent surgery for cancer of the oesophagus, and died within a year on December 2, 1985.

Influences Larkin was an english poet, novelist, and critic, a leading figure of 'The Movement,' term coined to describe a group of British poets that joined together during the 1950s. 'The Movement' poets addressed everyday British life in plain, straightforward language and often in traditional forms. (Watch out for this)

His Poetry Larkin was not an innovative poet – he disliked modernism and worked instead within the realms of traditional English poetry. His stannzas and rhyme schemes are conventional. His poems tell stories.

He said….. My poems are about beauty and truth There’s not much to say about my work. When you’ve read a poem, that’s it, it’s a;; quite clear what it means. One of the jobs of the poem is to make the beautiful seem true and the true beautiful…..