10 APRIL 1993, Page 30

Larkin about

Sir: This Be the Verse (Books, 3 April)

They f— you up your biographers, they may not mean to, but they do, they'll play your vices up for laughs and worse comes out in the reviews.

But they were f—ed up in their turn by old-style fools in corduroys who half the time were quoting Auden and half just plainly chasing boys.

Criticism sparks criticism, it lengthens on the library shelf; cancel all of your subscriptions, and don't write anything yourself.

William Saunders

18 Dartmouth Park Avenue, London NW5