Without rancor?

In Brit usage a wanker is a useless person, and you can't call Larkin that, or rhyme it with manque.
(While travelling on the M1 the other day, a fellow motorist indicated that he thought of me in that way, and I signalled a reciprocal opinion, using, as it happened, an American gesture.)
Best regards,
David

Well, David, that usage might be common today, but the original and traditional meaning of "wanker" is "one who masturbates", and recognizing that Sam is a southerner and consequently a traditionalist, and that his poem lists any number of traditional and classic poets, I believe your definition is not applicable; and that Larkin scholars could make a strong argument in favor of Sam Gwynn's use of the word in the narrower and more academic sense.

Nor can one call masturbation itself a useless occupation. (At least not without questioning the premise of this post, and possibly others.)

Masturbation is an occupation? My guidance counselor never mentioned that when I was in high school.

I thought Wanking was a town in China until I discovered Larkin. The poem is on page 215.

Wanking is an especially useful occupation for terrorists, long-term prisoners (or short-term I guess), schizophrenics, the criminally insane, and those in monastic orders, among others, not to mention unemployed bankers, those who overcerebrate, and so on.

Is it always a he who's a wanker? :-) In English usage, that is? I've never heard anyone say "She's a wanker." Hmmm.

BTW, if Sam says Forgive and forget, does that mean this thread is toast? Pity.

John Whitworth is absolutely correct! Page 215 of the Collected Poems. The poem is Love Again, and the first line reads:

"Love again: wanking at ten past three"

Wanking, China, John, subsequently became Nanking, and is now Nanjing. The inhabitants are known as nanjers. You may be familiar with the following, attributed to the wife of one of the Treaty Port vice-consuls:

An Englishman, transferred to Nanking,
Amused himself mainly by yanking
What he had at hand,
Till he could command
The language to beg for a spanking.

You can make a six figure income while working out of your own home in your spare time with the new Wankel Rotary Egomail List Developer.

See a moving Demonstration Right Here, you helpless fools.

Please pull yourselves together!

OK, lame critique, but Hilf*&^inglarious!!!!