Hull continues to put Larkin on a pedestal during its year as City of Culture even though the poet called the city a fish-smelling ‘dump’. Is Larkinmania misplaced?
Statues in stations were once all grim-faced Victorians and war memorials. Not any more. Today’s railway monuments are dioramas of civic identity, an opportunity for heritage-savvy towns and cities to claim their local heroes. Huddersfield has Harold Wilson; Liverpool, Ken Dodd. Southend’s got a skateboarder, and Paddington has its dopey bear.
In Hull, it is Philip Larkin who we have put on a pedestal. At first sight, the poet, all 7ft of him, seems the perfect choice. Martin Jennings’ sculpture at Paragon Station was inspired by the late leaving protagonist of Larkin’s poem the Whitsun Weddings. It was in Hull that Larkin lived and worked for 30 years and wrote most of his best work – so why wouldn’t a grateful city commemorate him? Well, it’s not quite that simple.
I’m settling down in Hull all right. Every day I sink a little further
I think Larkin was lucky to have Hull and Hull was lucky to have him
Related: London 0, Hull plenty: how is life in England's only 'affordable city'?
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