Oxford Professor of Poetry
The Professor of Poetry is an academic appointment at the University of Oxford. The chair was created in 1708 by an endowment from the estate of Henry Birkhead.[1] The professorship carries an obligation to lecture, but is in effect a part-time position, requiring only three lectures each year. In addition, every second year (alternating with the University Orator), the Professor delivers the Creweian Oration, which offers formal thanks to benefactors of the University. Until 1968 this oration was delivered in Latin.
Currently, the professor is appointed to a single five-year term. After individuals are nominated, an election is held in which the members of the university's Convocation are eligible to participate. Convocation consists of members of the faculty (Congregation) both current and retired, and former student members of the University who have been admitted to a degree (other than an honorary degree). In 2010, on-line voting was allowed for the first time.[2] As of 2009[update], it carried a stipend of £6,901[3] (£4,695 as of 2005) plus £40 in travel expenses for each Creweian Oration.
Since 1708, 45 persons have been elected to the position including many prominent poets and academics. Although one, the only woman elected to the post, Ruth Padel, resigned prior to filling the post. The current Professor of Poetry is Geoffrey Hill, who was elected in June 2010. On 19 June 2015, Simon Armitage was elected as Hill’s successor.[4]
Contents
Elections
The elections typically attract media attention and involve campaigning by proponents of quite diverse candidates. In the past, both practising poets and academic critics have been chosen.
2009 Election
On 16 May 2009, Ruth Padel defeated the Indian poet Arvind Mehrotra to become the first woman elected to the post since its inception in 1708.[5] The Nobel Prize-Winning candidate Derek Walcott had withdrawn his candidacy, following what he called a “low and degrading” campaign against him,[6] after The Sunday Times and Cherwell revealed that around 100 Oxford academics had been sent, anonymously, photocopied pages from The Lecherous Professor, a University of Illinois publication on the prevalence of sexual harassment in American universities, describing two such accusations made against Walcott at Harvard University and Boston University.[5][6][7] Walcott's candidacy had been controversial within the University from the beginning, some counselling against on grounds of Walcott's university past, others arguing that his record was immaterial since he would have no contact with students.[citation needed] Newspapers had previously claimed Walcott was the favourite,[5] although Libby Purves suggested that this claim was based on a misunderstanding of the electoral system.[8] Padel criticised the anonymous missives and denied any knowledge of them, though many in the media continued to insinuate her involvement.[7] After her election, two journalists who had previously requested information from Padel regarding voters' opinions revealed that she had cited to them the source of some people's unease about the suitability for appointment of someone with such a university record.[9][10] Padel stated, 'I wish he had not pulled out'[11] and resigned on 25 May only nine days after her election.[12]
Letters to British newspapers criticised media handling of the election. An open letter to the Times Literary Supplement,[13] complained of unfair media pursuit of Walcott's past, a letter in The Guardian complained of unjust denigration of Padel, claiming she was "justly held in high regard" for her poetry and teaching,[14][15] and a letter to The Times claimed that "Oxford has missed out for the worst of reasons. 'One can only speculate why so many male voices were loud in condemning Padel but silent with respect to Walcott. I attended a course taught by Ruth Padel: she was inspirational, involved, enthusiastic and interested in her students. Perhaps it was unwise of her to email journalists but if Walcott's past is "irrelevant to his suitability to fill the post of Professor of Poetry", so is Padel's "unwisdom". That Walcott removed the decision from the electorate was his own choice. Padel should not have been made to pay for his decision to confront neither his accusers nor his past."[16] American commentators attributed the series of events to an assumption on the part of academics and writers that a gender war was behind it all,[17] perceiving a "split across the Atlantic - with the Americans, the ones after all working with Walcott over the decades, taking those claims much more seriously"[18][19]
Some commentators in Britain supported Padel, attributing the smear campaign in the media to misogyny[8] and networking. "The old boys have closed in on her", the poet Jackie Kay stated.[20][21] On Newsnight Review the poet Simon Armitage and poetry writer Josephine Hart expressed regret about Padel's resignation. "Ruth's a good person", Armitage said. "She dipped a toe in the media whirlpool and it dragged her down. I don't think she should have resigned, she would have been good." The election was for a post beginning the first day of Michaelmas Term 2009 hence Padel did not take up office.[22] In the 2010 election she supported Geoffrey Hill.[23]
2010 Election
Wikinews has related news: |
On 7 May 2010, the University, having changed its system of voting to embrace online voters, confirmed that Paula Claire, Geoffrey Hill, Michael Horovitz, Steve Larkin, Chris Mann and seven others had been nominated as candidates for the position.[24]
Paula Claire, the only woman standing, announced her withdrawal on 7 June 2010, citing concerns about the fairness of the election which were dismissed by the university authorities.[25]
On 18 June, Geoffrey Hill was declared elected.[26][27] He received 1,156 votes; the next highest number, 353, went to Michael Horovitz.[28][29]
2015 election
On 19 June 2015, Simon Armitage was elected as Geoffrey Hill’s successor.[4]
Persons elected to the position (1708–present)
# | Portrait[30] | Professor of Poetry | Took office | Left office | Career | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Joseph Trapp (1679–1747) |
1708 | 1718 |
|
[31] | |
2 | — | Thomas Warton the Elder (c. 1688–1745) |
1718 | 1726 |
|
[32] |
3 | Joseph Spence (1699–1768) |
1728 | 1738 |
|
||
4 | — | John Whitfield | 1738 | 1741 |
|
|
5 | Robert Lowth (1710–1787) |
1741 | 1751 |
|
||
6 | — | William Hawkins (1722–1801) |
1751 | 1756 |
|
|
7 | Thomas Warton the Younger (1728–1790) |
1757 | 1766 |
|
[32] | |
8 | — | Benjamin Wheeler | 1766 | 1776 |
|
|
9 | John Randolph (1749–1813) |
1776 | 1783 |
|
||
10 | — | Robert Holmes (1748–1805) |
1783 | 1793 |
|
|
11 | James Hurdis (1763–1801) |
1793 | 1801 |
|
||
12 | Edward Copleston (1776–1849) |
1802 | 1812 |
|
||
13 | — | John Josias Conybeare (1779–1824) |
1812 | 1821 |
|
|
14 | Henry Hart Milman (1791–1868) |
1821 | 1831 |
|
||
15 | John Keble (1792–1866) |
1831 | 1841 |
|
||
16 | — | James Garbett (1802–1879) |
1842 | 1852 |
|
[33] |
17 | 90px | Thomas Legh Claughton (1808–1892) |
1852 | 1857 |
|
|
18 | Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) |
1857 | 1867 |
|
||
19 | 90px | Francis Hastings Doyle (1810–1888) |
1867 | 1877 |
|
|
20 | John Campbell Shairp (1819–1885) |
1877 | 1885 |
|
||
21 | Francis Turner Palgrave (1824–1897) |
1885 | 1895 |
|
||
22 | — | William Courthope (1824–1917) |
1895 | 1901 |
|
|
23 | A. C. Bradley (1851–1935) |
1901 | 1906 |
|
||
24 | John William Mackail (1859–1945) |
1906 | 1911 |
|
||
25 | 90px | Thomas Herbert Warren (1853–1930) |
1911 | 1916 |
|
|
— | — | Vacant | 1916 | 1920 | — | — |
26 |
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
|
William Paton Ker (1855–1923) |
1920 | 1923 |
|
|
27 | — | Heathcote William Garrod (1878-1960) |
1923 | 1928 |
|
|
28 | — | Ernest de Sélincourt (1870–1943) |
1928 | 1933 |
|
|
29 | — | George Stuart Gordon (1881–1942) |
1933 | 1938 |
|
|
30 | — | Adam Fox (1883–1977) |
1938 | 1943 |
|
|
— | — | Vacant | 1944 | 1946 | — | — |
31 | — | Maurice Bowra (1898–1971) |
1946 | 1951 |
|
|
32 | Cecil Day-Lewis (1904–1972) |
1951 | 1956 |
|
||
33 | W. H. Auden (1907–1973) |
1956 | 1961 |
|
||
34 | 90px | Robert Graves (1895–1985) |
1961 | 1966 |
|
|
35 | Edmund Blunden (1896–1974) |
1966 | 1968 |
|
||
36 | — | Roy Fuller (1912–1991) |
1968 | 1973 |
|
|
37 | — | John Wain (1925–1994) |
1973 | 1978 |
|
|
38 | — | John Jones (born 1924) |
1978 | 1983 |
|
|
39 | — | Peter Levi (1931–2000) |
1984 | 1989 |
|
|
40 | Seamus Heaney (1939–2013) |
1989 | 1994 |
|
[34][35] | |
41 | — | James Fenton (born 1949) |
1994 | 1999 |
|
[36] |
42 | — | Paul Muldoon (born 1951) |
1999 | 2004 |
|
|
43 | — | Christopher Ricks (born 1933) |
2004 | 2009 |
|
|
— | Ruth Padel (born 1946) |
— | — |
|
||
44 | - | Geoffrey Hill (born 1932) |
2010 | 2015 |
|
|
45 | - | Simon Armitage (born 1963) |
2015 | - |
|
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Al Alvarez, Alan Brownjohn, Carmen Bugan, David Constantine, Elizabeth Cook, Robert Conquest, Jonty Driver, Seamus Heaney, Jenny Joseph, Patrick Kavanagh, Grevel Lindop, Patrick McGuinness, Lucy Newlyn, Bernard O’Donoghue, Michael Schmidt, Jon Stallworthy, Michael Suarez, Don Thomas, Anthony Thwaite, 'Oxford Professor of Poetry', Times Literary Supplement, 3 June 2009, p. 6.
- ↑ [‘Don’t wrong Ruth Padel’, Letters, The Guardian 28 May 2009]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ ["Poetry's Loss," The Times Letters, 29 May 2009, http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/sitesearch.do?querystring=letters+poetry&p=tto&pf=all ]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2010/100618_1.html
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ University of Oxford, About the University: Past Professors of Poetry. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
- ↑ "What does Oxford's professor of poetry do?", BBC News Magazine, 26 May 2009. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 Newman, Gerald, and Brown, Leslie Ellen (editors), Britain in the Hanoverian Age, 1714-1837: An Encyclopedia (London: Taylor & Francis, 1997), 745–746.
- ↑ Liddon, Henry Parry, Chapter XXVII: Visit to Ireland—The Jerusalem Bishopric—The Poetry Professorship—Friendly Remonstrances. 1841–1842., Life of Edward Bouverie Pusey, Volume 2 (London: Longmans, 1894), quote: "Mr. Garbett's name had not been in the first instance suggested by any purely literary anxiety to provide for the discharge of the duties of the Poetry chair". Retrieved 4 February 2014.
- ↑ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1995. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
- ↑ Obituary: Heaney ‘the most important Irish poet since Yeats’, Irish Times, 30 August 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
- ↑ Contemporarywriters.com, Professor James Fenton — British Council Literature. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
External links
- Articles incorporating Cite DNB template
- Use dmy dates from May 2015
- Use British English from May 2015
- Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2009
- Articles with unsourced statements from September 2015
- Pages with broken file links
- English poetry
- Oxford Professors of Poetry
- Professorships at the University of Oxford
- Lists of people associated with the University of Oxford
- Culture in Oxford
- 1708 establishments in Great Britain