Today, if you are an Oxford MA, you can nip along to the Sheldonian Theatre between 11 and four and cast your vote for the next Professor of Poetry. The appointment runs for five years. The winner gives three lectures a year, and the Creweian Oration (the speech in praise of the university benefactors, which used to be delivered in Latin) every other year.
The line of recent poets in this chair begins with Cecil Day-Lewis, who was followed by WH Auden, who was followed by Robert Graves, who was briefly followed by Edmund Blunden (who resigned before his term was up). Roy Fuller took over, followed by John Wain. The next holder was John Jones, no poet but a don, "Jones of Merton". After that tenure, it seemed to me that the tradition should be re-established whereby poets stood for the post.
So it was that, 20 years ago, I first ran for the job myself. When my candidature was made public, my old Homer tutor, the poet Peter Levi, rang me to say that he was sorry he hadn't known I was standing, but it was too late for him to back out now. He had been working efficiently at gathering support, it turned out, and I could tell he was expecting to win. I felt, though, that I gave him a good run for his money.
Peter was a most unusual man, of wonderful enthusiasms (Homer included), who remained a Jesuit until Cyril Connolly died, when he upped sticks and very commendably married Connolly's widow. During his professorship he did two eye-catching things. He discovered a Shakespeare poem, which did not however survive scrutiny. And he forgot, when delivering the Creweian Oration, to mention the major benefactors who were sitting in the front row. As a result of this, the professorship itself was punished (or rewarded) by having half of the oration confiscated. Hence the every-other-year rule, mentioned above.
Very kindly, as his term came to an end, Peter wrote to me in Manila saying that Seamus Heaney was standing, and that he doubted I could beat him. I was not so foolish as to test this hypothesis. At the end of a generous professorship Heaney gave, with Ted Hughes, the most exciting poetry reading I have ever heard. I say this without being at all an admirer of most of Hughes's poetry. But his reading voice was extraordinary, and he delivered a memorable rendition of Lady Gregory's translation of the Irish poem, "Donal Og".
Now it seemed to be my turn to stand for a second time. Five scary years followed, in which I dreaded giving my lectures. I should have been happier, perhaps, if I had realised that Auden had been worried sick when giving his, but I did not find this out until the last few weeks, as I wrote my Auden series. I was very glad to have held the post, but ecstatic to be through with it.
When my time was up, something most unusual happened, which was that Paul Muldoon stood - and was unopposed. No vote was held, and so it is 10 years since the last of these eccentric, irrational events. The other day, after his last lecture (in which he talked about poems by three of his predecessors: Day-Lewis, Graves and Heaney), Muldoon joined forces with Heaney to give another of those splendid poetry readings, in the Sheldonian, to a packed excited house, very much like the audience for Heaney and Hughes. Muldoon, by the way, is the second American citizen (like Auden, he has a US passport) to have held the post.
Who will succeed him? The first campaign off the mark was organised by Jon Stallworthy on behalf of Christopher Ricks. If it's to be a critic this time round, I can't think of a more distinguished critic, and it would be a fine thing to welcome him back to Oxford. That's why I joined the nominators of Ricks. But if it's to be a poet, some interesting choices have since emerged, led by Peter Porter and Ann Carson. Ian McMillan (of BBC's The Verb) and Mark Walker complete the list.
Fifteen lectures turns out to be rather an assignment (as Heaney and Muldoon will tell you), and it's not a bad idea to bear this in mind when you choose a candidate. It should certainly be someone with 15 things to say. Another point I might impertinently make: if you vote for Carson - please, not on the grounds that "it's about time a woman did it". That's so degrading to women, dontcha think? Carson is both a very striking poet and a classical scholar. I've never heard her lecture, but I can't believe she doesn't have 15 important things to say.
Porter, the doyen of the poets, commands a special affection and respect among those who remember his work as a regular poetry reviewer - a task that few have been able to do well. A vote for Ricks would mean a reversion to the (older and longer) tradition that the post goes to a scholar. So it's an interesting choice this time, and one in which the public has an interest, since these are public lectures that anyone can attend, free. The trick is only to find out when they are being given.
