Poet's deep affection for Hull recognised in statue

But he might have added poets to the list after making Hull his home and finding it the perfect place to write.

And now the city that inspired Philip Larkin has given him an honour only previously bestowed on Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, William Wilberforce, Amy Johnson, Andrew Marvell and William de la Pole – a statue immortalising his place in its history.

The 7ft bronze was unveiled on the concourse at Paragon Station yesterday – on the 25th anniversary of his death.

The ceremony was the climax of a series of artistic events that have been held in Hull over the past 25 weeks to celebrate Larkin's life and work, and for those behind the project and a gathering of more than 200 people who attended the event, it was a long overdue affirmation of the city's literary heritage.

Near the station hotel, it captures Larkin dashing for a train with a manuscript tucked under his arm and his gaberdine mac blowing in his wake.

It was created by sculptor Martin Jennings, who said he wanted it to appear as if the poet had just downed a drink in the hotel bar and was in a hurry.

Mr Jennings created a statue of Larkin's friend and fellow poet Sir John Betjeman in St Pancras Station, London, three years ago, and said he liked to think the pair were on their way to meet from opposite ends of the line.

"I think of each of these two figures each looking down the line as if about to step on a Pulman to set off on a journey towards each other," he said.

It was a route Larkin often took and train journeys in and out of the city feature in some of his best-loved poems.

Inscribed at the statue's feet is a line from The Whitsun Weddings, adding to the sense of motion: "I was late getting away."

The ceremony began with a winter-coated band playing some of Larkin's beloved jazz, as dignitaries and members of the public shivered on the freezing concourse.

This was followed by a piece written especially for the occasion. Begin Afresh, a Fanfare for Larkin, composed by Nathaniel Seaman and performed by trumpeter Anthony Thompson.

Then came speeches by members of the Larkin Society commissioning group, Mr Jennings and the Lord Mayor.

Each was delivered against a background noise of rumbling diesel engines on the nearby platforms and a series of muffled comments by the station announcer.

Each speaker gave varying descriptions of Larkin which reflected the complexity of the man.

Commissioning group chairman Carole Collinson said she hoped the statue would counteract the popular image of Larkin as a "gloomy old hermit", while after the unveiling, Professor James Booth, literary adviser to the Larkin Society, called him an "existential vagabond".

The mayor, Councillor David Gemmell, who had the honour of unveiling the statue by removing its long black gown, summed it up before doing so when he said: "He was a complex man, flawed in many ways, but no-one can dispute his greatness as a poet."

The mayor said Hull was "one of the great poetic cities of Britain", citing other poets who also found it fertile writing ground, including Marvell, Stevie Smith and Andrew Motion.

Prof Booth said he was delighted with the statue.

"I think it's magnificent, poetic, refined, exactly the Larkin that I'm familiar with," he said. "As Martin said it's got that wonderful sense of being off balance, Larkin always said that Hull was on the edge of things. He said a city can't make poems happen but it can allow them to happen, and Hull is good at that."

The statue cost 100,000 and was funded through donations from businesses and individuals with support from Hull Council. It has been gifted to the people of Hull by the Larkin Society.

Although he could be disparaging of his adoptive city, he developed a deep affection for it and recognised its pull on others.

Larkin wrote: "And there are others who come, as they think, for a year or two and stay a lifetime, sensing that they have found a city that is in the world, yet sufficiently on the edge of it to have a different resonance.

"Behind Hull is the plain of Holderness, lonelier and lonelier, and after that the birds and lights of Spurn Head, and then the sea.

"One can go ten years without seeing these things, yet they are always there, giving Hull the air of having its face half-turned towards distance and silence and what lies beyond them."

POET TURNED DOWN LAUREATE

PHILIP Larkin was born in Coventry in 1922 and moved to Hull in 1955 to become librarian at Hull University, a post he held until his death.

He was also a novelist and respected jazz critic, and first came to prominence with the 1955 publication of his second volume The Less Deceived.

This was followed by The Whitsun Weddings in 1964 and High Windows a decade later.

Larkin was awarded the Queen's gold medal for poetry in 1965, the CBE a decade later and was made a Companion of Literature in 1978. The year he died, aged 63, he awarded the Order of the Companion of Honour.

In 1984 he was offered the chance to succeed Sir John Betjeman as Poet Laureate but declined.