That's a very fine review, David.
Speaking as a native of Hull it bothers me that Larkin has not had the recognition he deserves in America; though truth to tell he hasn't had that recognition in Hull either, until very recently.
I think Larkin was a fine judge of his own work and published not a lot because he only wanted to publish his best.
Here's one of his that breaks my heart every time I read it:
Cut Grass
Cut grass lies frail:
Brief is the breath
Mown stalks exhale.
Long, long the death
It dies in the white hours
Of young-leafed June
With chestnut flowers,
With hedges snowlike strewn,
White lilac bowed,
Lost lanes of Queen Anne's lace,
And that high-builded cloud
Moving at summer's pace.
Best,
David
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