Oxford Professor of Poetry

Oxford Professor Of Poetry

The chair of Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford is an unusual academic appointment, now held for a term of five years, and chosen through an election open to all members of Convocation, namely, all graduates and current academics of the university; in 2010, on-line voting was allowed. It carries an obligation to lecture, but is in effect a part-time position. As of 2009, it carried a stipend of £6,901 (£4,695 as of 2005) plus £40 in travel expenses for each Creweian Oration.

The Professor of Poetry delivers three lectures each year. In addition, every second year (alternating with the University Orator), the Professor delivers the Creweian Oration, which offers formal thanks to benefactors of the University. Until 1968 this oration was delivered in Latin. The chair was endowed in 1708 following a bequest by Henry Birkhead.

Read more about Oxford Professor Of Poetry:  Recent Elections, 2009 Election, 2010 Election, Holders of The Position

Famous quotes containing the words oxford, professor and/or poetry:

    “During the first formative centuries of its existence, Christianity was separated from and indeed antagonistic to the state, with which it only later became involved. From the lifetime of its founder, Islam was the state, and the identity of religion and government is indelibly stamped on the memories and awareness of the faithful from their own sacred writings, history, and experience.”
    —Bernard Lewis, U.S. Middle Eastern specialist. Islam and the West, ch. 8, Oxford University Press (1993)

    “This unlettered man’s speaking and writing are standard English. Some words and phrases deemed vulgarisms and Americanisms before, he has made standard American; such as “It will pay.” It suggests that the one great rule of composition—and if I were a professor of rhetoric I should insist on this—is, to speak the truth. This first, this second, this third; pebbles in your mouth or not. This demands earnestness and manhood chiefly.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “The science of Humboldt is one thing, poetry is another thing. The poet to-day, notwithstanding all the discoveries of science, and the accumulated learning of mankind, enjoys no advantage over Homer.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)