Skin

Philip Larkin 1922 (Coventry) – 1985 (Hull)



Obedient daily dress,
You cannot always keep
That unfakable young surface.
You must learn your lines -
Anger, amusement, sleep;
Those few forbidding signs

Of the continuous coarse
Sand-laden wind, time;
You must thicken, work loose
Into an old bag
Carrying a soiled name.
Parch then; be roughened; sag;

And pardon me, that
I Could find, when you were new,
No brash festivity
To wear you at, such as
Clothes are entitled to
Till the fashion changes
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Submitted by RobertHaigh on August 09, 2020

Modified on May 02, 2023

23 sec read
309

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXBAB XXXCXC XDXXDX
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 430
Words 77
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6

Philip Larkin

Philip Larkin was born in 1922 and grew up in Coventry, England. He earned his BA from St John's College, Oxford, and finished with First Class Honours in English. In 1955 he became Librarian of the Brynmor Jones Library at the University of Hull, a post he held until his death in 1985. He was the best-loved poet of his generation, and the recipient of innumerable honours, including the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. more…

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    "Skin" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/58738/skin>.

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