This Be The Verse

I remember this poem by Larkin from 1999 and I've never forgotten those first few lines, strangely - they must have struck a chord. At the time I was a naive first year undergraduate and our rather stiff professor suddenly decided to recite it, much to the class's surprise. He seemed to relish in the surprise a little though, thinking himself a bit "hip" or something. As a result the display seemed a little cheap to me.

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.

So true! And now a bit about Larkin:

Philip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL, (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist and jazz critic. He spent his working life as a university librarian and was offered the Poet Laureateship following the death of John Betjeman, but declined the post. Larkin is commonly regarded as one of the greatest English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century. In 2003 Larkin was chosen as the "nation's best-loved poet" in a survey by the Poetry Book Society.