Philip Larkin was born in 1922 and went onto become one of England's best-known writers. Before his success as an author, Larkin worked as a librarian, writing in his spare time.
Larkin has often been praised for his realistic and rather bleak descriptions of England, and life in the 20th Century. This poem is no exception, as Larkin subverts the common depiction of Spring as a time of hope and new beginnings.
Instead, there is a melancholy component to his descriptions, as he compares the coming of Spring to a "scene of adult reconciling" after an argument. He therefore suggests that there is something "false" about the positivity of springtime.
