[Mark McDonnell]

What conny said. Larkin's poetry is misunderstood. He was a flawed human being who tried to reach for perfection in his poetry. Poetry which reveals a witty, lonely, compassionate realist, aware of his flaws and on a constant search for the ineffable in the grime.

What is the "closed tradition of English white males"? It's just a meaningless phrase.

"we can safely assume any folk whose emotions might be harmed by the things he said and done while alive are just going to avoid his writings". Larkin wrote some racist doggerel in private letters to shock his friends when he was drunk. Not very nice at all. But what makes you so confident that you can speak for millions of readers and assert that none of them would be capable of separating the art from the artist. In life we say and do things we might regret, especially if alcoholism is involved. Pride and stubbornness may stop us from admitting that we regret it. But art is where an artist shows what they want to be eternal.