Compare Poets

Pick two poets who seem to have nothing to do with each other — a Gothic American and a pastoral Englishman, say — and see where the catalogue actually joins them: overlapping years, shared ground, distinctive themes, and the poems that secretly rhyme.

Poet A

Philip Arthur Larkin Philip Arthur Larkin

Poet B

J. C. Squire J. C. Squire
Compare two related contemporaries

A random pair who overlapped in time and whose poems already rhyme in the catalogue — a way into poets you may not have met.

Strongly related
Their work already rhymes in the catalogue. The rest of this page is the story around that rhyme.
Biography 71% Blended 71%
Swap sides Another related pair
Philip Arthur Larkin

Philip Arthur Larkin

9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985 (~63)
11 live poems · English

Philip Arthur Larkin (1922-1985) stands as one of the most significant English poets of the post-war era, a writer whose unflinching observations of ordinary life and masterful technical skill earned him a place among the finest poets of the 20th century. Often labeled as the "saddest heart in the post-war supermarket," Larkin crafted verse that captured the disillusionment and quiet desperation of modern Britain wit…

“I think that writing is rather like driving: you can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”

Neighbourhood: Confessional Poets, Death & Mortality
Emotional landscape: Sorrow, Despair, Irony
Listen Timeline Affinities
J. C. Squire

J. C. Squire

2 April 1884 – 20 December 1958 (~74)
1 live poem · English

In the smoky literary salons of early twentieth-century London, few figures loomed larger than John Collings Squire, a man whose influence extended far beyond his own considerable poetic output to shape an entire generation of English letters. Born on April 2, 1884, in Plymouth, Devon, Squire would become one of the most powerful literary editors of his age, a respected poet in his own right, and a lightning rod for…

“God heard the embattled nations sing and shout 'Gott strafe England' and 'God save the King!' God this, God that, and God the other thing—'Good God!' said God, 'I've got my work cut out!”

Neighbourhood: Edwardian Poets, Georgian Poets, Modernist Poets
Emotional landscape: Spirituality, Sorrow, Wonder
Listen Timeline Affinities

In time

Philip Arthur Larkin
J. C. Squire
1884 1985
They overlapped for 37 years (1922–1958). When Philip Arthur Larkin was born, J. C. Squire was about 38. Philip Arthur Larkin was about 36 when J. C. Squire died.
Philip Arthur Larkin in history J. C. Squire in history Years they were given

On the map

About 281 km separate Radford, Coventry, England from Plymouth, Devon, England. Both have ground in England.

Philip Arthur Larkin

J. C. Squire

Open both on the History Atlas

Themes they return to

Distinctive words drawn from each poet’s critiqued poems — what they keep writing about, not just what their biographies mention.

Shared

nature

Philip Arthur Larkin only

life world social self desire love family relationship relationships harm pastoral society

J. C. Squire only

hills squire earth landscape mythic

From the biographies

st. john's college

Philip Arthur Larkin: coventry, university librarian, st. john's college, kingsley amis, the less deceived, the whitsun weddings, church going, toads. J. C. Squire: plymouth, blundell's school, st. john's college, the new statesman, solomon eagle, the three hills and other poems, poems and baudelaire flowers, to a bull-dog.

Poems that secretly rhyme

The closest poem-to-poem matches in critique space — the sort of kinship a listener hears before the catalogue admits it.

To a Very Slow Air
Philip Arthur Larkin
73% nature
Compare
The Three Hills
J. C. Squire
Who called love conquering
Philip Arthur Larkin
71%
Compare
The Three Hills
J. C. Squire
Strangers
Philip Arthur Larkin
71%
Compare
The Three Hills
J. C. Squire
Long Last
Philip Arthur Larkin
69%
Compare
The Three Hills
J. C. Squire
Neurotics
Philip Arthur Larkin
67%
Compare
The Three Hills
J. C. Squire
To put one brick upon another
Philip Arthur Larkin
67%
Compare
The Three Hills
J. C. Squire

The world around them

While their lives overlapped

Notable events from the years they were both alive.

1922 Publication of 'The Waste Land'
1924 Frost's First Pulitzer Prize
1925 Death of Amy Lowell
1926 Awarded the Pulitzer Prize
1926 Publication of 'Winnie-the-Pooh'
1928 Alexander Fleming Discovers Penicillin
1928 Lawrence publishes Lady Chatterley's Lover
1929 Great Depression Begins

Philip Arthur Larkin

1940 Larkin's Education at St John's College, Oxford
1943 First Published Poem in 'The Oxford Magazine'
1945 Larkin's First Collection 'The North Ship' Published
1955 Appointment as Librarian at the University of Hull
1955 Publication of 'The Less Deceived'
1964 Publication of 'The Whitsun Weddings'
1974 Publication of 'High Windows'
1983 Honorary Doctorate from the University of Hull

J. C. Squire

1895 Education at Blundell's School
1902 Matriculation at St. John's College, Cambridge
1917 First Major Publication: 'The New Poetry'
1919 Founding of 'The London Mercury'
1919 Marriage to Margaret Squire
1932 Publication of 'Collected Poems'
1935 Friendship with W. H. Auden
1952 Publication of 'The Last Poems'

Emotional landscapes

Philip Arthur Larkin: Sorrow, Despair, Irony. J. C. Squire: Spirituality, Sorrow, Wonder.

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