Oxford Poetry: Appendix 3: Oxford Professors of Poetry

Appendix 3: Oxford Professors of Poetry

The Oxford chair of poetry was founded in 1708 following a bequest by Henry Birkhead, a Berkshire landowner. Besides three public lectures per year, the Professor gives the Creweian Oration, a speech in praise of benefactors: in the 1750s this accompanied a Handel oratorio as part of a concert, but since /Roy Fuller/ finally managed to have legislation passed to enable the Professor to orate in English rather than Latin (this did not happen until 1972), the custom has been to entertain with deadpan wit. (/James Fenton/'s 1999 oration concerned pilchards, woodworm and the restoration of the Bodleian Library roof). A further duty is to set the theme for, and judge, the Newdigate Prize: more diffusely, the Professor is expected to encourage student poetry, and successive holders of the post have often done good turns for Oxford Poetry.

The Professor is paid almost nothing and is, uniquely among all Oxford's academics, genuinely elected: in principle anybody may stand, though no candidate without close Oxford ties has ever actually won. Today the outcome is given a substantial steer by consensus among poets in the English faculty, who generally all nominate the same person; indeed the present Professor, /Paul Muldoon/, was not even opposed, so there has been no contest since 1994; nevertheless, the outcome is not predictable, and some substantial figures (such as Enid Starkie and C. S. Lewis) have been defeated in the past. All Oxford graduates (that is, MA degree holders) may vote, but must do so in person, reducing an electorate of 180000 to more like 700.

The idea that the Chair actually related to poetry is a recent one. Early Professors varied from popular Oxford figures who were handy with epigrams to literary critics such as Robert Lowth (1741-51). In the early nineteenth century, it could be a Church affair, and the heated 1841 contest was a theological dispute between a Tractarian and an Evangelical candidate; but Matthew Arnold, the first Professor to give his public lectures in English rather than Latin (1857-67), made the post much more of a public platform for literary and social comment. It was not until the 1951 election of /C. Day Lewis/ that the idea of a poet as Professor came to seem normal, and only the critic Hugh Jones (1978-83) has broken a run of well-known poets.

Twentieth-century holders of the chair

1895-1901. William Courthope
1901-06. A. C. Bradley
1906-11. John Mackail
1911-16. Thomas Warren
1916-20. Suspended due to war
1920-23. W. P. Ker
1923-28. H. R. Garrod
1928-33. Ernest de Sélincourt
1933-38. George Gordon
1938-43. A. Fox
1944-46. Suspended due to war
1946-51. Maurice Bowra
1951-56. /C. Day Lewis/
1956-61. /W. H. Auden/
1961-66. /Robert Graves/
1966-68. /Edmund Blunden/
1968-73. /Roy Fuller/
1973-78. /John Wain/
1978-83. Hugh Jones
1984-89. /Peter Levi, S.J./
1989-94. /Seamus Heaney/
1994-99. /James Fenton/
1999-. /Paul Muldoon/



			Appendix 3: Oxford Professors of Poetry Back to the index to the index The Oxford chair of poetry was founded in 1708 following a bequest by Henry Birkhead, a Berkshire landowner. Besides three public lectures per year, the Professor gives the Creweian Oration, a speech in praise of benefactors: in the 1750s this accompanied a Handel oratorio as part of a concert, but since /Roy Fuller/ finally managed to have legislation passed to enable the Professor to orate in English rather than Latin (this did not happen until 1972), the custom has been to entertain with deadpan wit. (/James Fenton/'s 1999 oration concerned pilchards, woodworm and the restoration of the Bodleian Library roof). A further duty is to set the theme for, and judge, the Newdigate Prize: more diffusely, the Professor is expected to encourage student poetry, and successive holders of the post have often done good turns for Oxford Poetry. The Professor is paid almost nothing and is, uniquely among all Oxford's academics, genuinely elected: in principle anybody may stand, though no candidate without close Oxford ties has ever actually won. Today the outcome is given a substantial steer by consensus among poets in the English faculty, who generally all nominate the same person; indeed the present Professor, /Paul Muldoon/, was not even opposed, so there has been no contest since 1994; nevertheless, the outcome is not predictable, and some substantial figures (such as Enid Starkie and C. S. Lewis) have been defeated in the past. All Oxford graduates (that is, MA degree holders) may vote, but must do so in person, reducing an electorate of 180000 to more like 700. The idea that the Chair actually related to poetry is a recent one. Early Professors varied from popular Oxford figures who were handy with epigrams to literary critics such as Robert Lowth (1741-51). In the early nineteenth century, it could be a Church affair, and the heated 1841 contest was a theological dispute between a Tractarian and an Evangelical candidate; but Matthew Arnold, the first Professor to give his public lectures in English rather than Latin (1857-67), made the post much more of a public platform for literary and social comment. It was not until the 1951 election of /C. Day Lewis/ that the idea of a poet as Professor came to seem normal, and only the critic Hugh Jones (1978-83) has broken a run of well-known poets. Twentieth-century holders of the chair 1895-1901. William Courthope 1901-06. A. C. Bradley 1906-11. John Mackail 1911-16. Thomas Warren 1916-20. Suspended due to war 1920-23. W. P. Ker 1923-28. H. R. Garrod 1928-33. Ernest de Sélincourt 1933-38. George Gordon 1938-43. A. Fox 1944-46. Suspended due to war 1946-51. Maurice Bowra 1951-56. /C. Day Lewis/ 1956-61. /W. H. Auden/ 1961-66. /Robert Graves/ 1966-68. /Edmund Blunden/ 1968-73. /Roy Fuller/ 1973-78. /John Wain/ 1978-83. Hugh Jones 1984-89. /Peter Levi, S.J./ 1989-94. /Seamus Heaney/ 1994-99. /James Fenton/ 1999-. /Paul Muldoon/ Copyright Oxford Poetry 2000. Pictured above: The tower of Magdalen College, Oxford: late 15th century