Philip Larkin flinched from intimacy – how would he have coped with social media?

A century after the poet’s birth, Imtiaz Dharker introduces her own poem about the grumpy great, Swiping left on Larkin

This year marks 100 years since the birth of the great English poet Philip Larkin, best known for his collections The Whitsun Weddings and High Windows. Award-winning poet Imtiaz Dharker, an honorary vice president of the Philip Larkin Society, has written a poem, Swiping left on Larkin, in celebration of the centenary. Here, she discusses why she decided to imagine what the poet would be like on a dating app. Scroll down to read the poem in full.

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