Published by Faber and Faber in Britain and Random House in America in 1964, The Whitsun Weddings marks Larkin's ascension to both editorial prestige and critical renown. It was Larkin's fourth published poetry collection and is generally viewed as his second mature poetic work, the first being The Less Deceived (1955). Considered by many to be his most sophisticated collection, it contributed a substantial part to what the poet and critic Peter Levi called Larkin's “85 perfect poems”. Although the collection sold modestly in America, it consolidated Larkin's growing reputation in England, becoming an instant success. The Whitsun Weddings offers a felicitous blend of finely-tuned symbolism and engaging conversational casualness. As his first biographer Andrew Motion points out, Larkin told the novelist Barbara Pym that he had arranged the thirty-two poems “to create a variety...

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Citation: Martiny, Erik. "The Whitsun Weddings". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 March 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8148, accessed 09 June 2026.]