.
Adult male Jumping Spider (Phidippus mystaceus), feeding on a Chrysopid, Oklahoma: photo by Thomas Shahan, October 2010
Day by day your estimation clocks up
Who deserves a smile and who a frown,
And girls you have to tell to pull their socks up
Are those whose pants you'd most like to pull down.
Who deserves a smile and who a frown,
And girls you have to tell to pull their socks up
Are those whose pants you'd most like to pull down.
Philip Larkin (1922-1985): Administration, 3 March 1965, from Collected Poems, 1988
Kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) on a branch, Austin's Ferry, Tasmania: photo by JJ Harrison, 2 June 2012
I worked at the [Hull] University Library from 1963-1966 as a Library Assistant and made many friends there, with most of whom I still keep in touch. One day in 1965 one of those friends, a particularly attractive girl, was caught by Philip in the stacks being rather too friendly with her then boyfriend, now husband. She is almost certain, because of the date of the poem, that 'Administration' was written after a telling-off she was given by Philip over this incident.
Amber Allcroft, from The Philip Larkin Society, October 2008
Actually I shall probably chicken out on 'Administration'. I don't think I could meet the eyes of my staff if it were printed, much less the Vice-Chancellor...
Philip Larkin to Kingsley Amis, 18 June 1976, in Selected Letters of Philip Larkin, 1940-1965, ed. Anthony Thwaite, 1992