Banerjee, A. "Larkin Reconsidered." Sewanee Review 116.3 (2008): 428-441.
This journal explores the career and reputation of Philip Larkin as a poet. In relation to "Next, Please," he talks about the fact that the poem was written when Larkin was twenty-nine, and that it is about him lamenting people's bad habits of waiting for the future.
Bayley, John. "Larkin and the romantic tradition." Critical Quarterly 26.1‐2 (1984): 61-68.
Bayley's critique explores Larkin's poetry as being affiliated with continental symbolism and Romanticism. The author describes the last stanza of "Next, Please" as having a "deliberate opacity" which "declines knowingness."
Bowen, Roger. "Poet in Transition: Philip Larkin's" XX Poems"." The Iowa Review (1977): 87- 104.
Bowen discusses "Next, Please" as one of Larkin's many poems in his first collection to have poetic objectives and a unique character to his work. He notes the poem as being akin to his other poem "Deceptions" in that it discusses the "bad habits of expectancy" humans have.
Cox, C. B. "Philip Larkin." Critical Quarterly 1.1 (1959): 14-17.
Cox also discusses the last stanza of 'Next Please,' this time emphasizing the tonal shift that occurs that showcases an entirely unique type of experience as compared to our expectations of a brighter future.
Larkin, Philip. "Next, please." The New Poets of England and America (1959): 169-170.
This is the poem in question, and which will be explicated in the paper proper - the poem is a tale of the folly of expectations and the need for us to spend more time in the present, because Death will always come eventually.
Reibetanz, John. "Lyric Poetry as Self-Possession: Philip Larkin." University of Toronto quarterly 54.3 (1985): 265-283.
In this article, Reibetanz examines "Next Please" as part of Larkin's overall obsession with possession and psychological states of human beings. The armada and the black ships of the poem are said to be two indicators of the hope and fear that all people have of the future - either of success or death.
Roper, Derek. "Tradition and Innovation in the Occidental Lyric of the Last Decade I. English Poetry and the Tradition, 1950-1960." Books Abroad (1960): 344-348.
Roper examines Larkin as part of a greater tradition in occidental lyrics in a contemporary context. He also talks about Larkin as part of The Movement, and how the poem's themes reflect their emphasis on pastoral decay and the decline of Britain's power.
Rowe, M. W. "The Transcendental Larkin." English 38.161 (1989): 143-152.
Rowe talks about Larkin as a Transcendentalist - in the case of "Next Please," he talks about the confluence between desire and death in the last stanza of the poem. This is a recurring theme for Larkin, as the death imagery is fixated upon by people, which is why the poem ends in that way.
Watt, R. J. C., ed. Concordance to the Poetry of Philip Larkin. Vol. 3. Georg Olms Verlag, 1995.
In this book, Watt discusses the poetry of Philip Larkin as they relate to the man himself. His work with the Movement, as well as his own relation of his work to his private life, are elucidated.
Weatherhead, A. Kingsley. "Philip Larkin of England." ELH 38.4 (1971): 616-630.
Weatherhead discusses Larkin's relationship to England, particularly through "Next Please." The armada in question is meant to evoke imagery of the English armada, and he makes specific mention of the fact that no ship actually comes to anchor in our lives.
