Oxford Professor of Poetry
The post of Professor of Poetry is one of the most prestigious positions at Oxford University . His duties include three public readings per year, he also determines the winner of the Sir Roger Newdigate's Prize for English Verse and gives the Creweian Oration , a speech in memory of the university's patrons. The chair was established in 1708. Since then, numerous important English poets and literary scholars have held the office.
It is the only professorship at the university that is awarded by election. Anyone can stand for election, all around 180,000 Oxford graduates are entitled to vote. The choice regularly arouses great media interest.
Previous professors
- 1708–1718: Joseph Trapp
- 1718–1726: Thomas Warton the Elder
- 1728-1738: Joseph Spence
- 1738-1741: John Whitfield
- 1741-1751: Robert Lowth
- 1751-1756: William Hawkins
- 1757-1766: Thomas Warton the Younger
- 1766–1776: Benjamin Wheeler
- 1776-1783: John Randolph
- 1783-1793: Robert Holmes
- 1793-1801: James Hurdis
- 1802-1812: Edward Copleston
- 1812–1821: John Josias Conybeare
- 1821-1831: Henry Hart Milman
- 1831-1841: John Keble
- 1842-1852: James Garbett
- 1852-1857: Thomas Legh Claughton
- 1857-1867: Matthew Arnold
- 1867–1877: Francis Hastings Doyle
- 1877-1885: John Campbell Shairp
- 1885–1895: Francis Turner Palgrave
- 1895-1901: William Courthope
- 1901-1906: Andrew Cecil Bradley
- 1906-1911: John William Mackail
- 1911–1916: Thomas Herbert Warren
- 1916–1920: not occupied
- 1920-1923: William Paton Ker
- 1923–1928: Heathcote William Garrod
- 1928–1933: Ernest de Sélincourt
- 1933–1938: George Stuart Gordon
- 1938-1943: Adam Fox
- 1944–1946: not occupied
- 1946–1951: Maurice Bowra
- 1951-1956: Cecil Day-Lewis
- 1956–1961: WH Auden
- 1961-1966: Robert Graves
- 1966–1968: Edmund Blunden
- 1968-1973: Roy Fuller
- 1973-1978: John Wain
- 1978-1983: John Jones
- 1984-1989: Peter Levi
- 1989-1994: Seamus Heaney
- 1994-1999: James Fenton
- 1999-2004: Paul Muldoon
- 2004–2009: Christopher Ricks
- 2009: Ruth Padel
- 2010-2015: Geoffrey Hill
- since 2015: Simon Armitage
Web links
- Past Professors of Poetry on the University of Oxford website