British Recluse Refused Opportunity to Be Laureate : Poet, Jazz Critic Philip Larkin Dies at 63. Philip Larkin, whose reclusive life style and limited poetic output earned him the sobriquet “hermit of Hull,” died Monday. He was 63 and his death was attributed to breathing difficulties after throat surgery.

Did Philip Larkin ever marry?

Larkin's long-standing relationships included Monica Jones, an English lecturer, but he shied from tying the knot and strayed. “To me it was dilution”, he wrote of marriage in his poem Dockery and Son. Booth said: “He couldn't marry anyone because he was so involved with his mother. ... The mother is the key element.

Did Philip Larkin have depression?

He spent his early years in Coventry, an industrial city in central England (heavily bombed during World War II). Larkin grew up during the 1930s and 1940s, which were marked by severe economic depression followed by the war. ... Larkin formed strong friendships with other young men, fellow students in St. John's College.