Peter McDonald
Encyclopedia
Peter McDonald is an author, university lecturer and critic.
, Belfast
, and University College, Oxford
. He has been writing poetry since his teens, and was the winner of national young poet competitions in 1978 and 1979. His first published poems were collected in the book Trio Poetry 3 (Blackstaff Press, 1982), and he was publishing poems in the national literary press while still an undergraduate. In 1983, he won Oxford's Newdigate Prize
for poetry, and from 1983-5 he was coeditor of the literary magazine Oxford Poetry
. In 1986, he was selected as one of the six writers (including Jo Shapcott
and Adam Thorpe
) featured in New Chatto Poets
. His first full collection of poems, Biting the Wax, was published in 1989.
Peter McDonald has been a university teacher of English for many years. He was Fellow and Tutor in English at Pembroke College
, Cambridge
from 1988–92, and was Lecturer (subsequently Reader) in English at the University of Bristol
from 1992-99. In 1999, he became the first holder of the Christopher Tower Studentship and Tutorship in Poetry in the English Language at Christ Church, Oxford
, also holding a lectureship in the English Faculty of Oxford University.
In 1991, Peter McDonald published Louis MacNeice
: The Poet in his Contexts, and his critical and academic work on that poet has continued with his coedited Selected Plays of Louis MacNeice, and a number of articles; he has re-edited, for Faber and Faber
, MacNeice's Collected Poems. More generally, he has been a prolific critic of modern and contemporary poetry, writing for both the national press in Britain and Ireland, and for poetry journals, such as Poetry Review, PN Review, Thumbscrew and Metre. His book Mistaken Identities: Poetry and Northern Ireland is a standard work on poets such as Seamus Heaney
, Michael Longley
and Paul Muldoon
. More recently, in Serious Poetry: Form and Authority from Yeats to Hill, he has challenged contemporary views of poetry and personality with new readings of Yeats
, W. H. Auden
, T. S. Eliot
and Geoffrey Hill
.
Peter McDonald's second collection of poetry was Adam's Dream (1996); a third, Pastorals, was published by Carcanet in 2004. His next collection, The House of Clay, appeared from Carcanet at the beginning of 2007.
Biography
He was educated at Methodist CollegeMethodist College Belfast
Methodist College Belfast , styled locally as Methody, is a voluntary grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland, one of eight Northern Irish schools represented on the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, and is a member of the Independent Schools Council...
, Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, and University College, Oxford
University College, Oxford
.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...
. He has been writing poetry since his teens, and was the winner of national young poet competitions in 1978 and 1979. His first published poems were collected in the book Trio Poetry 3 (Blackstaff Press, 1982), and he was publishing poems in the national literary press while still an undergraduate. In 1983, he won Oxford's Newdigate Prize
Newdigate prize
Sir Roger Newdigate's Prize is awarded to students of the University of Oxford for Best Composition in English verse by an undergraduate who has been admitted to Oxford within the previous four years. It was founded by Sir Roger Newdigate, Bt in the 18th century...
for poetry, and from 1983-5 he was coeditor of the literary magazine Oxford Poetry
Oxford Poetry
Oxford Poetry is a literary magazine based in Oxford, England. It is currently edited by Hamid Khanbhai and Thomas A Richards.Founded in 1910 by Basil Blackwell, its editors have included Dorothy L...
. In 1986, he was selected as one of the six writers (including Jo Shapcott
Jo Shapcott
Jo Shapcott FRSL, is an English poet, editor and lecturer who has won the National Poetry Competition, the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the Costa Book of the Year Award, a Forward Poetry Prize and the Cholmondeley Award.-Career:...
and Adam Thorpe
Adam Thorpe
Adam Thorpe is a British poet, novelist and playwright whose works also include short stories and radio dramas.-Career:Adam Thorpe was born in Paris and grew up in India, Cameroon and England...
) featured in New Chatto Poets
Chatto and Windus
Chatto & Windus has been, since 1987, an imprint of Random House, publishers. It was originally an important publisher of books in London, founded in the Victorian era....
. His first full collection of poems, Biting the Wax, was published in 1989.
Peter McDonald has been a university teacher of English for many years. He was Fellow and Tutor in English at Pembroke College
Pembroke College, Cambridge
Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college has over seven hundred students and fellows, and is the third oldest college of the university. Physically, it is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from almost every century since its...
, Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
from 1988–92, and was Lecturer (subsequently Reader) in English at the University of Bristol
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
from 1992-99. In 1999, he became the first holder of the Christopher Tower Studentship and Tutorship in Poetry in the English Language at Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
, also holding a lectureship in the English Faculty of Oxford University.
In 1991, Peter McDonald published Louis MacNeice
Louis MacNeice
Frederick Louis MacNeice CBE was an Irish poet and playwright. He was part of the generation of "thirties poets" which included W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender and Cecil Day-Lewis; nicknamed "MacSpaunday" as a group — a name invented by Roy Campbell, in his Talking Bronco...
: The Poet in his Contexts, and his critical and academic work on that poet has continued with his coedited Selected Plays of Louis MacNeice, and a number of articles; he has re-edited, for Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber Limited, often abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing a great deal of poetry and for its former editor T. S. Eliot. Faber has a rich tradition of publishing a wide range of fiction, non fiction, drama, film and music...
, MacNeice's Collected Poems. More generally, he has been a prolific critic of modern and contemporary poetry, writing for both the national press in Britain and Ireland, and for poetry journals, such as Poetry Review, PN Review, Thumbscrew and Metre. His book Mistaken Identities: Poetry and Northern Ireland is a standard work on poets such as Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer. He lives in Dublin. Heaney has received the Nobel Prize in Literature , the Golden Wreath of Poetry , T. S. Eliot Prize and two Whitbread prizes...
, Michael Longley
Michael Longley
Michael Longley, CBE is a Northern Irish poet from Belfast.-Life and career:Longley was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and subsequently read Classics at Trinity College, Dublin, where he edited Icarus...
and Paul Muldoon
Paul Muldoon
Paul Muldoon is an Irish poet. He has published over thirty collections and won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T. S. Eliot Prize. He held the post of Oxford Professor of Poetry from 1999 - 2004. At Princeton University he is both the Howard G. B. Clark ’21 Professor in the Humanities and...
. More recently, in Serious Poetry: Form and Authority from Yeats to Hill, he has challenged contemporary views of poetry and personality with new readings of Yeats
Yeats
W. B. Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright.Yeats may also refer to:* Yeats ,* Yeats , an impact crater on Mercury* Yeats , an Irish thoroughbred racehorse-See also:...
, W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...
, T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
and Geoffrey Hill
Geoffrey Hill
Geoffrey Hill is an English poet, professor emeritus of English literature and religion, and former co-director of the Editorial Institute, at Boston University. Hill has been considered to be among the most distinguished poets of his generation...
.
Peter McDonald's second collection of poetry was Adam's Dream (1996); a third, Pastorals, was published by Carcanet in 2004. His next collection, The House of Clay, appeared from Carcanet at the beginning of 2007.