After last year's rather unseemly brouhaha (I've been dying to use that word - you can tell, can't you?), the contest to find the next Oxford Professor of Poetry is back on.
Of those mentioned in the Guardian article, I think I'd like Anne Stevenson to get it - she's one of those poets who seems to transcend a lot of the divisions in the poetry world. I wouldn't be unhappy with Geoffrey Hill, though, but I hope that's not Clive James angling for someone to beg him to stand. I should probably give his poetry a fair chance, but his crimes against TV are too many to mention.
2 comments:
Yes, I would love to see Anne Stevenson elected. I heard her do a marvellous reading recently. She has authority and intelligence but wears them lightly. Her lectures would be a gift to poetry.
Geoffrey Hill would also be an excellent choice. As with the Laureateship, I think this post should be for a shorter period. Are five lectures demanded of each incumbent? Better to have fewer, concentrated ones from more poets!
I would vote for Anne Stevenson too if I eligible to vote. She'd make a far better "First woman Oxford Professor of Poetry" than Ruth Padel.
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