Youth

The poems in Collected Poems by Philip Larkin often referred to youth, behaviors, impressions, freedom, and the loss of youth as it regards the aging process. Larkin begins to show disappointment and regret regarding his age in the poems "On Being Twenty-Six," "Maturity," and "At Thirty-One When Some are Rich." In the first poem, although Larkin is only 26 years old, it appears that he feels as if the bloom of youth has faded.

Additionally, there are several problems where Larkin is envious of the people younger than he, from those who are experiencing their first loves to students who remind Larkin of his long gone university days. The poet yearns for those carefree times and is saddened by being forced to live the life of an adult, and the loss of freedom, and lack of responsibility.

This ideal of youth is somewhat contradictory for Larkin, who continues to...