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Should a poem really sound like a patient emoting on the psychiatrist's couch? Why are poets so bad at reading their own poetry? Is it because they want us to read it for ourselves? Try to imagine Anthony Hopkins reading this. A poem should evidence itself as a poem.

Pure genius

Heart wrenching, tangibly beautidul.

I feel like he took the first line from the Chinese poet li po the moon

Telephones crouch, getting ready to ring... There's a man who likes being left alone.

One of the greatest melodies ever written...

Late but the beginning sounds nothing like what you talk about later on. Complete different chords. Wasted my time thanks .

such a great song/riff. Thank you!

I call this literary style miserabilism. Not just nihilism, but miserable, complaining, defeatist surrender. I used to see him as he strolled about the campus of Hull Uni, with his hearing aids turned down and his eyes on the ground as if he were reduced to scavenging for dropped coins. Oh bad indeed!

‘Postmen, like doctors, go from house to house’

The realist shit. Period.

It's so good

Possibly the greatest poem of the 20th century.

Philip you never truly died. With technology your voice can be heard anywhere at any time, like if you were speaking now . I think when you are truly gone is when nobody remembers you or have heard your name. That is finite.

Music to my ears. Total pleasure, beauty and meaning.

I think some people just a have a profound sense of death and mortality - it's something that starts in childhood maybe an overactive mind or somewhat autistic temperament sets this perspective early on

Larkin uses his technical ability in rendering a sombre atmosphere, the simple line "the sky is white as clay" is enough to set the mood

He was quite the little ray of sunshine, wasn’t he? By some margin, my favourite poet.

Dark yet smooth the realism of every day mundane life. Philip is the best poet from the last century.

The one flaw is that clanker ‘nothing to love or link with’ line.

It's the honesty of this poem, plus the extraordinary skill with words that makes it so beautiful, if sobering. We've all been there at some point. The light brings distractions. I think of Edward Thomas's poem Out in the Dark": How weak and little is the light, All the universe of sight, Love and delight, Before the might, if you love it not, of night." Nevertheless, as I grow into my 70s, I fear death less. We suffer in all sorts of ways in this world, if only fearing to lose the things we love while we are still alive. Perhaps Death, which is neither light nor dark, brings Peace at last.

Where did you find this recording? I can't find out where it came from. I didn't even think Larkin ever recorded a reading "Aubade."

Most things may never happen, this one will.

Cheer up, ffs, Phil

best tutorial

This is the best poem written ever. Philip Larkin summarises everything I have ever thought about dying-so good!

Sounds fresh 4 decades later

The sure extinction that we travel to And shall be lost in always. Not to be here, Not to be anywhere, And soon; nothing more terrible, nothing more true. [...] Nothing to think with, Nothing to love or link with. [...] Most things may never happen: this one will. ---- The most terrifying poem ever written? I get these thoughts in bed at 4am. But I realised it's a chemical imbalance. A preoccupation with the horror of death is not 'normal' despite the reality of death. When you're happy and not depressed you don't get these horrors, it's a brain state.

The most mundane line of the poem [ 'work has to be done' ] is also its strongest; we can meditate frightfully on death and its terrifying finality, which puts a sudden stop to our dreams and plans, but we have to wake up with the oncoming day and do the daily chores; life must go on for the living and that is what matters; yes, work has to be done.

can you upload the guitar track again?? The link doesn't work

No one nails dark realism as beautifully as Larkin. Legend.

Nothing wrong with having this as a fave… good job!

Sigmund Freud said that an obsession with death (death OCD) was caused by unresolved childhood conflict.

I'm always amazed by Larkin's technical brilliance. Whether end-stopped or enjambed his lines always have a perfect balance. Even the identical rhyme at the end of S2 is impeccable. And then the capacious stanzas that are tied to the theme of the poem itself, slowly dwindling down to a few metrical feet.

You do it the best way in my estimation. Thank you sir.

The peace that passes all understanding has passed him by, but yet still may find him. One prays it will! Beautifully written, beautifully read.

Amazing, Thank You

Well that was cheerful

And soon…strikes me cold😭

The genius of this poem is how Larkin switches the usual trope of dawn as a new, fresh beginning to it being the harbinger of death. The analagy of postmen as doctors is purest Larkin

My fav poem

This sounds so heavenly

This poem is better by TS Eliot, it's entitled "The Love Song of...". Larkin is much better as Larkin, for example, "High Windows", or "This Be The Verse"...in my opinion.

My top poem to listen to in these pandemic times.

What a beautiful riff

It's the title that makes this the blackest of black comedy.

what dffect do you use sir i have boss me 80

January 2021 .and the poem seems more real in this pandemic ...or maybe death has crossed our minds more now ...

Masterly. So relevant for today’s deathstruck times. Larkin has some superb phrases and clever lines here, as always. I love Larkin’s deceptively simple and uncompromising style; the honest antithesis to poetical perfumed pretence. A favourite poet of a former boss who lived his life along Larkinian lines. Maybe it’s aboutbseeing poetry in the everyday and makingbit universal. So much of Shakespeare’s ‘Aye, but to die, and go we know not where’ and ‘Sans eyes, sans sense, sans everything’ here in a modern voice and form. Larking saw into the heart of things; he wrote in a style which was clear and relevant, distinctive and rich. Not an easy feat! God bless, God rest this not so merry but eminently wise gentleman.