The poet Philip Larkin has finally been honoured with a commemorative plaque on the house in Coventry where he was born, just over one hundred years ago.
The plaque, commissioned by the Coventry Society, was formally unveiled by the Lord Mayor of Coventry, Councillor Kevin Maton, on December 2, the anniversary of the poet’s death in 1985.
Larkin was born at 2 Poultney Road in Radford on 9 August 1922, the second child of Eva Larkin and her husband Sydney, then Deputy City Treasurer of Coventry. From the age of five, young Philip’s childhood was spent at the family home in Manor Road, close to the city’s railway station, but the house was demolished to build the Ring Road in the 1960s.
Unveiling the plaque, Councillor Maton said, “I’m delighted to be here because it’s very important that the people of Coventry know more about their history and the talented people that their city has produced.”
Larkin is acknowledged as the greatest English poet of the second half of the twentieth century and his centenary year has been marked with many tributes and extensive media attention. On the day of the plaque unveiling a wreath was laid on the stone dedicated to him in Westminster Abbey.
The Philip Larkin Society made a generous contribution to the cost of the plaque, and speaking at the unveiling, society member Philip Pullen, an academic at Hull University but also himself Coventry-born, said, “The Larkin Society has wanted to put a plaque on his birthplace for many years and we’re very grateful to the Coventry Society for finally achieving this.”
Philip Larkin turned down the opportunity to become Poet Laureate back in the early 1980s, but another guest at the unveiling was Coventry’s own Poet Laureate, Emilie Lauren Jones, who took office last year. Taking Larkin’s poem I Remember, I Remember as inspiration, Emilie added her own tribute to a poet she much admires.
Peter Walters, Chair of the Coventry Society, said, “I’ve long felt that in Coventry we do not do enough to celebrate Philip Larkin and his genius. This is just another small step towards making that happen.”
