Peter Porter (writer)

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Peter Porter (2007)

Peter Neville Frederick Porter (born February 16, 1929 in Brisbane , † April 23, 2010 in London ) was an Australian-born British poet . In 2002 he received the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry , and in 2007 he was named one of ten Companions of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature .

Life and work

Porter grew up as an only child in a formerly well-off family in Brisbane. His mother died unexpectedly early in 1938. At 17, he left school and did a year-long internship at The Courier-Mail in Brisbane. He moved to London in 1951 and initially worked in the book trade and advertising. Later he was also a literary critic for the Observer . In the 1950s he was associated with the London poet group The Group , but it was not until the late 1960s that he began to work as a freelance writer.

Porter's first book of poetry was published in 1961, and he married his first wife, Jannice Henry, who committed suicide in 1974. Since the 1970s he has regularly published volumes of poetry, for which he has repeatedly received various literary prizes, including a. in 1987 with the Whitbread Poetry Award . He has also been Writer-in-Residence at the Royal Albert Hall and several UK and Australian universities. In 2001 he worked with the composer Nicholas Maw , the result of the cooperation was premiered in Melbourne .

Porter's poetry was considered intellectually demanding and influential on a number of poets of the generation that followed him. His subjects were various aspects of modern civilization; the tone varies between elegiac, satirical, mocking or solemn. In later works he found his way back to his native Australia more and more often.

Porter had lived in Paddington since 1968 . He was married to Christine since 1991. He died in 2010 at the age of 81. His death was preceded by cancer.

Works (selection)

  • 1961: Once Bitten, Twice Bitten
  • 1963: Poems Ancient and Modern
  • 1970: The Last of England
  • 1972: Preaching to the Converted
  • 1975: Living in a Calm Country
  • 1978: The Cost of Seriousness
  • 1981: English Subtitles
  • 1984: Fast Forward
  • 1987: The Automatic Oracle
  • 1989: Possible Worlds
  • 1992: The Chair of Babel
  • 1994: Millennial Fables
  • 1997: Dragons in Their Pleasant Palaces
  • 1999: Both Ends against the Middle
  • 2001: Saving from the Wreck
  • 2004: Afterburner
  • 2009: Better than God

literature

  • Roslyn Russell: Literary Left: Celebrating the Literary Relationship between Australia and Britain , Sydney 1997, p. 126ff.
  • Barbara Williams: In Other Words: Interviews with Australian Poets , Amsterdam 1998, pp. 142ff.

Web links

Commons : Peter Porter  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Article in the Guardian
  2. ↑ a b page on Porter at poetryarchive.org
  3. ↑ page to Porter at poetryinternationweb.org
  4. ↑ cf. Lea, Richard: Poet Peter Porter dies at guardian.co.uk, February 23, 2010 (accessed February 24, 2010)
personal data
SURNAME Porter, Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Porter, Peter Neville Frederick
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian-born British poet
DATE OF BIRTH February 16, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Brisbane
DATE OF DEATH April 23, 2010
Place of death London