Triumph of 78-year-old will help dispel memory of last year's scandal-hit contest
The scandal which has dogged the position of Oxford professor of poetry since last year may finally be dispelled by the landslide victory of esteemed British poet Geoffrey Hill in today's election.
The professorship, first established over 300 years ago and held in the past by poets including Matthew Arnold, WH Auden and Seamus Heaney, is widely viewed as the most prestigious in poetry behind that of the poet laureate. But despite its illustrious history, last year's election took a sordid turn when eventual winner Ruth Padel resigned having held the post for less than two weeks, after it emerged that she had alerted journalists to allegations of sexual harassment made against her rival, the Nobel laureate Derek Walcott.
Hill, frequently described as the greatest living poet in the English language, was voted in by 1,156 votes from Oxford graduates, well ahead the Beat poet Michael Horovitz, second with 353, and eight others. Hill made no comment, but Dr Seamus Perry, deputy chair of Oxford's English faculty board, which hosts the chair, said the poet was "pleased – not least because it's his birthday". Hill turned 78 yesterday.
Former poet laureate Andrew Motion, who had tipped Hill for the role, said Hill's win was fantastic news. "He's one of the two or three best poets writing in English, and an extremely interesting critic. The fit between the way he talks about his poems and the way he writes them, and what a serious university like Oxford is offering its students, is extremely good," said Motion. "There's no arguing with this."
The appointment of Hill, added Motion, would help redress some of the bad feeling which has existed around the professorship since last year's scandal. "Last year was so awful. It did damage to the post, and it gave a kind of weapon to people who want to beat up poetry in general. So the larger damage was also quite considerable," said the former poet laureate. "Hill's such a big name … they're lucky to have him."
Perry agreed. "He's a poet of great eminence and power and also a great critic and a very, very fine lecturer – I think he's got everything we hoped for," he said. "Having Geoffrey Hill in the chair, as the latest in a line of great critics, does really show that the chair did emerge intact from the scuffle."
The going in this year's election hasn't been entirely smooth, however: last week the only female candidate, Paula Claire, withdrew from the race, alleging favouritism towards Hill, while earlier this week Horovitz accused his rival, the biographer Roger Lewis, of "pseudo-intellectual chutzpah".
Horovitz was disappointed not to win. "I've unlimited admiration for [Hill's] poems but less so for his prose," he said. "I'm not speaking from sour grapes here, I'm just saying Geoffrey will probably give great lectures but they won't be anything different. He would have been giving similar lectures for some time, whereas like a lot of things to do with Oxbridge, I think big changes would be very welcome … I suggest that Geoffrey, like his poetry, won't be that accessible."
From the prose poems of Hill's collection Mercian Hymns, which brings together the life of eighth-century ruler King Offa with memories of Hill's childhood, to his more recent The Triumph of Love, in which he asks "What / ought a poem to be? Answer, a sad / and angry consolation", or The Orchards of Syon, where he says "I write / to astonish myself", Hill's learned, moral poetry is often described as difficult.
This has not prevented the poet from receiving a host of literary garlands, from the Faber Memorial prize to, most recently, the Truman Capote award for literary criticism.
Born in 1932, Hill studied English literature at Keble College, Oxford, where he was awarded a first, and began to compose poetry. Poet and critic Anthony Thwaite recalled meeting the young Hill at a literary party, where Hill recited his poem Genesis. "I felt like Larkin when he met Kingsley Amis – you know, that 'here was a talent greater than my own'," Thwaite said in 2002. As well as his collections of poetry, most recently A Treatise of Civil Power, Hill has published books of essays, and has taught at universities in the UK, the US and Nigeria.
He starts his five-year tenure, which will see him giving one lecture a term and working to "encourage the art of poetry in the university", this autumn.
"The danger if you appoint someone of his age is always going to be that they're past their best – but actually he's been writing really wonderful poetry, and he's extremely prolific," said Motion. Dame Averil Cameron, warden of Keble College and Hill's nominator, agreed. "He is greatly admired both as poet and critic and is currently amazingly prolific. He is truly worthy of this honour and we can confidently look forward to an inspiring tenure." The role comes with a yearly stipend of £7,000.