(1922–85)
one of the best-known and loved English poets of the second half of the 20th century. His work deals with subjects such as death, love, sex and the natural world, mixing humour with sadness. The poems in collections such as The Whitsun Weddings (1964) and High Windows (1974) are written in ordinary language but have traditional rhyme, rhythm and verse structure. Larkin also published two novels, Jill (1946) and A Girl in Winter (1947), as well as two collections of essays. He worked as librarian at the University of Hull from 1955 and hundreds of his poems that had never been published were found there in 2004.