Monday, September 19, 2022

She Did Not Change

In 1977, the English poet Philip Larkin was commissioned to write a short poem to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s diamond jubilee. Larkin wrote:

In times when nothing stood

But worsened, or grew strange,

There was one constant good: 

She did not change.

The penultimate line was the result of a late alteration. Originally Larkin had written, “We had one constant good.” At the last moment he crossed out “We had” and wrote “There was" ... [read more