Geoffrey Hill is the 44th Oxford Professor of Poetry

Some people have felt that Geoffrey Hill and Barack Obama shared something special... and now we know what it is: both are NUMBER 44. Relieved that Barack Obama has not been named to the 44th Oxford Poetry Professorship, the Boston Globe chose to make the announcement about Hill's victory in an article entitled "In Ted's Honor" which speaks first of a commemorative breakfast for Ted Kennedy. The same article eventually notes that because Geoffrey Hill and Christopher Ricks have held the position of Oxford Professor of Poetry, "Boston University rules the world — the poetry world, at least." Boston Globe (June 19, 2010).

See also:

Geoffrey Hill Zinger (June 18, 2010).

Stephen Moss, "My run for Oxford professor of poetry was crushed by viral campaign — and a distinguished rival," Guardian (June 18, 2010).

Of Poetry and Presidents

"LORDS DON'T LEAP. / They Sleep." That is the extent of Day 10 in Carol Ann Duffy's "The Twelve Days of Christmas 2009." But Barack Obama is also named in the poem, and presumably it's not exactly a negative reference.... Should comparisons be made to Whitman and Lincoln? Well, probably not just yet.

Links

Carol Ann Duffy, "The Twelve Days of Christmas 2009," Radio Times (December 2009).

Lyndsay Moss, "Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy slams bankers with new take on the Twelve Days of Christmas," The Scotsman (December 7, 2009).

Jennifer Schuessler, "A History of Odes to the Chief," New York Times (December 12, 2009).

David Reynolds, "Lincoln and Whitman," History Now (December 2005).

Teaching plans, "Whitman and Lincoln" by National Portrait Gallery and the Choral Arts Society of Washington (2008).

Poetry, Politics, Inaugurations

Elizabeth Alexander has been chosen to recite a poem at Barack Obama's inauguration on January 20, 2009.  She follows in the footsteps of Robert Frost (John F. Kennedy inauguration in 1961), James Dickey (Jimmy Carter inaugural gala in 1977), Maya Angelou (Bill Clinton inauguration in 1993), and Miller Williams (Bill Clinton inauguration in 1997).

Listen to Elizabeth Alexander speak about who she would have chosen to read at the Inauguration from "Inaugural Poetics" a broadcast from "Poetry Off the Shelf" with the Poetry Foundation (December 19, 2008).

Other Links:

Elizabeth Alexander's page from the Academy of American Poets (Poets.org).

Katharine Q. Seelye, "Poet Chosen for Inauguration Is Aiming for a Work That Transcends the Moment," New York Times (December 20, 2008).

Dwight Garner, "The Intersection of Poetry and Politics," New York Times (December 24, 2008).

Letters "Poets, Presidents and Inaugurations" New York Times (December 27, 2008).

Katharine Q. Seelye, "Inaugural Poet, Adorned," The Caucus, New York Times Politics Blog (January 1, 2009).

"Poetry and Power: Robert Frost's Inaugural Reading" (poets.org)

Walcott's poem for Obama

"Forty Acres" was written by Derek Walcott to honor President-Elect Barack Obama, and was printed in the Times (November 5, 2008).  

Links:

Edward Byrne, "Barack Obama and Derek Walcott," One Poet's Notes Blog (November 9, 2008).

Catherine Elsworth, "Barack Obama still has time for a little poetry," Telegraph (November 7, 2008) where we learn that Obama may currently be reading Derek Walcott.

The next US President may also be a closet poet

Closet poet or not, my guess is that Barack Obama will do more to promote poetry than has been seen during the past eight years.  As we have already noted during the campaign, his command of rhetoric is impressive.  Steven Barrie Anthony at the Huffington Post reported on Obama's youthful  poetry (March 2007), reproducing copies of the poems.   In Rebecca Mead's "Obama, Poet" in The New Yorker (July 2, 2007), Harold Bloom was asked for an opinion of Obama's early efforts.  He compared "Pop" to Langston Hughes "who tended to imitate Carl Sandburg."  Bloom did not take the word "shink" in the body of the poem to be a typo, but rather a verb expressing very strong emotion.  Regarding "Underground," Bloom compared it to D.H. Lawrence's "Snake."

Other links

Ian McMillan, "The Lyrical Democrat," The Guardian (March 29, 2007).