Poetry
The humanity of Horace
The wisdom of someone who has lived a little is at the heart of the verse of the ancient poet who was adopted as the mascot of the Enlightenment
An Ode to Autumn
Here is to the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
The genius of David Jones
The work of the great modernist poet remains as relevant as it has ever been
Paradise dimmed
John Milton’s Paradise Lost is the greatest poem in the English language, yet it seems to be fading slowly from public view. Who could write a new national epic?
Betjeman the beat poet
Recalling a thrilling collaboration between the poet and a group of oddball musicians
The meaning of memorisation
Minds, like libraries, should be well-stocked
Philip Larkin: the man who was always right
The great man’s peerless poetry is not the “soppy stuff” of cheap romanticism, but a harsh, unsparing — and often beautiful — look at the world
Harold Pinter: from bad to verse
The playwright will not be remembered for his poetry
Why do we like Larkin so much?
On a love with limits
The Critic Books Podcast: Cult writers
How does a writer become a figure of cultish renown?