On August 9, 1922, Philip Larkin was born in Coventry, England. He was the only son and younger child of Sydney Larkin, who came from Lichfield, and his wife, Eva Emily Day of Epping. Philip Arthur Larkin was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. He educated at St. John’s College, Oxford.

After graduating from Oxford in 1943 with a first in English language and literature, Larkin became a librarian. His first book of poetry, The North Ship, was published in 1945, followed by two novels, Jill (1946) and A Girl in Winter (1947), and he came to prominence in 1955 with the publication of his second collection of poems, The Less Deceived, followed by The Whitsun Weddings (1964) and High Windows (1974). His many honours include the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1965. He died on 2 December 1985, at the age of 63, and was buried at the Cottingham municipal cemetery near Hull.