Peter Porter (poet)
Encyclopedia
Peter Neville Frederick Porter, OAM (16 February 192923 April 2010) was a British-based Australian poet.
, Australia, in 1929. His mother, Marion, died of a burst gall-bladder in 1938. He attended the Church of England Grammar School and left school at 18, and went to work as a trainee journalist on the Brisbane Courier Mail. However, this post lasted only a year until he was dismissed. He emigrated to England in 1951. On the boat he met the future novelist Jill Neville. Porter was portrayed in Neville's first book "The Fall Girl" (1966). After two suicide attempts, he returned to Brisbane. Ten months later he was back in England. In 1955 he began attending meetings of "The Group." It was his association with "The Group" that allowed him to publish his first collection in 1961.
He married in 1961 and had two daughters (born in 1962 and 1965). Porter's wife, the former Shirley Jannice Henry, committed suicide in 1974, and was found dead in her parents house in Marlow, Buckinghamshire
. In 1991 Porter married Christine Berg, a child psychologist. In 2001, he was named Poet in Residence at the Royal Albert Hall
. In 2004 he was a candidate for the position of Professor of Poetry
at Oxford University. In 2007, he was made a Royal Society of Literature
Companion of Literature, an honour bestowed on a maximum of ten living writers.
Porter died on 23 April 2010, aged 81, after suffering from liver cancer
for a year. 23 April was also the date of Shakespeare's birthday and day of death. Cervantes
, William Wordsworth
and Rupert Brooke
also died on that day. After news of Porter's death in 2010, the Australian Book Review
announced it would rename its ABR Poetry Prize the Peter Porter Poetry Prize in honour of Porter.
. The publication of his poem Metamorphosis in the Times Literary Supplement in January 1960 brought his work to a wider audience. His first collection Once Bitten Twice Bitten was published by Scorpion Press
in 1961. Influences on his work include: W. H. Auden
, John Ashbery
, and Wallace Stevens
. . He went through distinct poetic stages, from the epigrams and satires of his early works Once Bitten Twice Bitten, to the elegiac mode of his later ones; The Cost of Seriousness and English Subtitles. In a recorded conversation with his friend Clive James
he stated that the "glory of present-day English writing in America, in Australia and in Britain, is what is left over of the old regular metrical pattern and how that can be adapted to the new sense that the main element, the main fixture of poetry is no longer the foot (you know, the iambus or the trochee) but the cadence. It seems that what is very important is to get the best of the old authority, the best of the old discipline along with the best of the new freedom of expression."
In 1983 Porter was a judge in the Man Booker Prize
.
Life
Porter was born in BrisbaneBrisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Australia, in 1929. His mother, Marion, died of a burst gall-bladder in 1938. He attended the Church of England Grammar School and left school at 18, and went to work as a trainee journalist on the Brisbane Courier Mail. However, this post lasted only a year until he was dismissed. He emigrated to England in 1951. On the boat he met the future novelist Jill Neville. Porter was portrayed in Neville's first book "The Fall Girl" (1966). After two suicide attempts, he returned to Brisbane. Ten months later he was back in England. In 1955 he began attending meetings of "The Group." It was his association with "The Group" that allowed him to publish his first collection in 1961.
He married in 1961 and had two daughters (born in 1962 and 1965). Porter's wife, the former Shirley Jannice Henry, committed suicide in 1974, and was found dead in her parents house in Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Marlow is a town and civil parish within Wycombe district in south Buckinghamshire, England...
. In 1991 Porter married Christine Berg, a child psychologist. In 2001, he was named Poet in Residence at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
. In 2004 he was a candidate for the position of 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....
at Oxford University. In 2007, he was made a Royal Society of Literature
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
Companion of Literature, an honour bestowed on a maximum of ten living writers.
Porter died on 23 April 2010, aged 81, after suffering from liver cancer
Liver cancer
Liver tumors or hepatic tumors are tumors or growths on or in the liver . Several distinct types of tumors can develop in the liver because the liver is made up of various cell types. These growths can be benign or malignant...
for a year. 23 April was also the date of Shakespeare's birthday and day of death. Cervantes
Cervantes
-People:*Alfonso J. Cervantes , mayor of St. Louis, Missouri*Francisco Cervantes de Salazar, 16th-century man of letters*Ignacio Cervantes, Cuban composer*Jorge Cervantes, a world-renowned expert on indoor, outdoor, and greenhouse cannabis cultivation...
, William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
and Rupert Brooke
Rupert Brooke
Rupert Chawner Brooke was an English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War, especially The Soldier...
also died on that day. After news of Porter's death in 2010, the Australian Book Review
Australian Book Review
Australian Book Review is Australia's leading literary review. Created in 1961 the ABR is an independent non-profit organisation that publishes articles, reviews, commentaries, essays, and new writing...
announced it would rename its ABR Poetry Prize the Peter Porter Poetry Prize in honour of Porter.
Work
His poems first appeared in the Summer 1958 and October 1959 issues of DeltaDelta (magazine)
delta was a small poetry magazine which was produced at the University of Cambridge in the late 1950s and 1960s. It was originally edited by Peter Redgrove and Rodney Banister, but Redgrove persuaded Philip Hobsbaum to take over from Issue 3. The magazine introduced various poets including The...
. The publication of his poem Metamorphosis in the Times Literary Supplement in January 1960 brought his work to a wider audience. His first collection Once Bitten Twice Bitten was published by Scorpion Press
Scorpion Press (Northwood)
The Scorpion Press was a small publisher, situated in Northwood, London, active in the late 1960s. They published a number of titles including the first three collections of Peter Porter. They ceased operations in the early 1970s....
in 1961. Influences on his work include: 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...
, John Ashbery
John Ashbery
John Lawrence Ashbery is an American poet. He has published more than twenty volumes of poetry and won nearly every major American award for poetry, including a Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for his collection Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror. But Ashbery's work still proves controversial...
, and Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens was an American Modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as a lawyer for the Hartford insurance company in Connecticut.His best-known poems include "Anecdote of the Jar",...
. . He went through distinct poetic stages, from the epigrams and satires of his early works Once Bitten Twice Bitten, to the elegiac mode of his later ones; The Cost of Seriousness and English Subtitles. In a recorded conversation with his friend Clive James
Clive James
Clive James, AM is an Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet and memoirist, best known for his autobiographical series Unreliable Memoirs, for his chat shows and documentaries on British television and for his prolific journalism...
he stated that the "glory of present-day English writing in America, in Australia and in Britain, is what is left over of the old regular metrical pattern and how that can be adapted to the new sense that the main element, the main fixture of poetry is no longer the foot (you know, the iambus or the trochee) but the cadence. It seems that what is very important is to get the best of the old authority, the best of the old discipline along with the best of the new freedom of expression."
In 1983 Porter was a judge in the Man Booker Prize
Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...
.
Awards
- 1983 Duff Cooper Memorial Prize for his first Collected Poems
- 1988 Whitbread Poetry Award for Automatic Oracle
- 1990 Australian Literature Society Gold MedalALS Gold MedalThe Australian Literature Society Gold Medal is awarded annually by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature for “an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year.” From 1928 to 1974 it was awarded by the Australian Literature Society, then from 1983 by the Association for...
for Possible Worlds - 1997 Age Book of the Year Poetry Prize Co-winner for Dragons in their Pleasant Places
- 1998 The First King's Lynn Award for Merit in Poetry
- 2000 Philip Hodgins Memorial MedalPhilip HodginsPhilip Ian Hodgins was a prize-winning Australian poet whose work appeared in such major publications as The New Yorker. Peter Rose called him 'probably the most loved [Australian] poet of his generation', noting that 'his admirers ranged from... Alan Hollinghurst to Ron Barassi and Peter Porter...
at the Mildura Writer's Festival - 2002 Forward Poetry PrizeForward Poetry PrizeThe Forward Poetry Prizes were created in 1991. The aim of the prizes is to extend the audience for contemporary poetry. Until the T.S. Eliot Prize remuneration was increased to £15,000 plus £1000 to each of nine runners-up, the Forward was the United Kingdom's most valuable annual poetry...
for Max Is Missing - 2002 Queen's Gold Medal for PoetryQueen's Gold Medal for PoetryThe Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry is awarded for a book of verse published by someone in any of the Commonwealth realms. Originally the award was open only to British subjects living in the United Kingdom, but in 1985 the scope was extended to include people from the rest of the Commonwealth realms...
- 2004 Medal of the Order of Australia
- 2004 Honorary Fellow of the English Association, UK
- 2007 Royal Society of Literature Companion of Literature
- 2009 Honorary Doctorate, Nottingham Trent University
- 2009 Age Book of the Year Poetry Prize for Better Than God
Poetry collections
- Once Bitten Twice Bitten, Scorpion Press, 1961
- Poems Ancient and Modern, Scorpion Press, 1964
- A Porter Folio, Scorpion Press, 1969
- The Last of England, Oxford University Press, 1970
- After Martial, Oxford University Press, 1972
- Preaching to the Converted, Oxford University Press, 1972
- JonahJonah (poetry book)Jonah is a book of poems by Peter Porter accompanying reproductions of artwork by Arthur Boyd. It was published by Secker & Warburg on 22 October 1973...
, with Arthur BoydArthur BoydArthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd, AC, OBE was one of the leading Australian painters of the late 20th Century. A member of the prominent Boyd artistic dynasty in Australia, his relatives included painters, sculptors, architects or other arts professionals. His sister Mary Boyd married John Perceval,...
Secker & Warburg, 1973 - Living in a Calm Country, Oxford University Press, 1975
- The Lady and the Unicorn, with Arthur BoydArthur BoydArthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd, AC, OBE was one of the leading Australian painters of the late 20th Century. A member of the prominent Boyd artistic dynasty in Australia, his relatives included painters, sculptors, architects or other arts professionals. His sister Mary Boyd married John Perceval,...
Secker & Warburg, 1975 - The Cost of Seriousness, Oxford University Press, 1978
- English Subtitles, Oxford University Press, 1981
- Fast Forward (poetry book)|Fast Forward, Oxford University Press, 1984
- Narcissus with Arthur Boyd, Seckers & Warburg, London, 1984
- The Automatic Oracle, Oxford University Press, 1987
- Mars, with Arthur BoydArthur BoydArthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd, AC, OBE was one of the leading Australian painters of the late 20th Century. A member of the prominent Boyd artistic dynasty in Australia, his relatives included painters, sculptors, architects or other arts professionals. His sister Mary Boyd married John Perceval,...
Deutsch, 1987 - Possible Worlds, Oxford University Press, 1989
- The Chair of Babel, Oxford University Press, 1992
- Millennial Fables, Oxford University Press, 1994
- Dragons in Their Pleasant Palaces, Oxford University Press, 1997
- Both Ends Against the Middle, 1999 as a section in Collected Poems Volume 2
- Max Is Missing, Picador/Macmillan, 2001
- Afterburner, Picador/Macmillan, 2004
- Better Than God, Picador, 2009
Selected and collected poetry
- Collected Poems, Oxford University Press, 1983.
- A Porter Selected: Poems 1959–1989. Oxford University Press, 1989.
- Collected Poems. 2 vols. Oxford & Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Chapbooks
- Solemn Adultery at Breakfast Creek The Keepsake PressKeepsake PressThe Keepsake Press was a private press founded by English writer Roy Lewis. The press published more than 100 books and chapbooks using letterpress techniques. It ceased to operate in 1996 when Lewis died. Its archive is now housed at Reading University...
, London, 1968 (200 copies) - The Animal Programme: Four Poems Anvil Press Poetry Ltd, London, 1982 (250 copies). ISBN 0856461075.
- A King's Lynn Suite, King's Lynn Poetry Festival, 1999.
- Return to Kerguelen, Vagabond Press, London, 2001.
Broadsheets
- Words Without Music, Sycamore Press, 1968.
- Epigrams by Martial, Poem-of-the-Month Club, 1971.
Translations
- After Martial Oxford University Press, 1972.
- from the Greek Anthology in Penguin Classics edition
- Michelangelo, Life, Letters, and Poetry, with George BullGeorge BullGeorge Bull was an English theologian and Bishop of St David's.-Life:He was born, 25 March 1634, in the parish of St. Cuthbert, Wells, and educated in the grammar school at Wells, and then at Blundell's School in Tiverton under Samuel Butler. Before he was fourteen years old he went into...
Oxford University Press, 1987. - Liu Hongbin, A Day Within Days, with the author. Ambit Books, London 2006. (Link to a reading of Porter's translation)
Books edited
- A Choice of Pope's Verse Faber & Faber, 1971.
- New Poems, 1971–1972: A P. E. N. Anthology of Contemporary Poetry Hutchinson, 1972.
- The English Poets: From Chaucer to Edward Thomas, with Anthony ThwaiteAnthony ThwaiteAnthony Simon Thwaite, OBE, is an English poet and writer. He is married to the writer Ann Thwaite. He was awarded the OBE in 1992, for services to poetry. He was mainly brought up in Yorkshire and currently lives in Norfolk....
Secker & Warburg, 1974. - New Poetry I, with Charles OsborneCharles OsborneCharles Osborne hiccupped continuously for 68 years .Osborne was from Anthon, Iowa, U.S., and he was entered in Guinness World Records as the man with the Longest Attack of Hiccups. The hiccups started in 1923 and persisted for a total of 68 years...
, Arts Council of Great Britain, 1975. - Thomas Hardy, selected, with photographs by John HedgecoeJohn HedgecoeJohn Hedgecoe was an award-winning British photographer and the best-selling author of over 30 books on photography. He established the photography department in 1965 at the Royal College of Art, where he was Professor from 1975 to 1994 and was Professor Emeritus until his death...
. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1981. - The Faber Book of Modern Verse 4th edition, originally edited by Michael RobertsMichael RobertsMichael Roberts may refer to:*Michael Roberts , British poet, writer, critic and broadcaster*Michael Roberts , British historian...
Faber & Faber, 1982. - William Blake, selected, Oxford University Press, 1986
- Christina Rossetti, selected, Oxford University Press, 1986
- William Shakespeare, with an introduction, C.N. Potter, 1987, Aurum, 1988.
- Complete Poems, by Martin Bell, Bloodaxe, 1988.
- John Donne, edited, Aurum, 1988.
- The Fate of Vultures: New Poetry of Africa, with Kofi AnyidohoKofi AnyidohoKofi Anyidoho is a Ghanaian poet and academic who comes from a family tradition of Ewe poets and oral artists. He was educated in Ghana and the U.S., gaining his Ph.D. at the University of Texas...
, and Musaemura ZimunyaMusaemura ZimunyaMusaemura Bonas Zimunya is one of Zimbabwe's most important contemporary writers.-Life:Zimunya was born in Umtali, Rhodesia , to Mandiera Watch and Kufera Zimunya. In 1973 he was expelled from the University of Rhodesia for 'disturbing the peace'. While exiled in Great Britain he studied at the...
. Heinemann International, 1989. - Lord Byron, Aurum, 1989
- W. B. Yeats: The Last Romantic, Aurum, 1990.
- Percy Bysshe Shelley, selected, Aurum, 1991.
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning, selected, Aurum, 1992.
- Robert Burns, selected, Aurum, 1992.
- The Romantic Poets: Byron, Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth, selected, Aurum, 1992.
- Robert Browning, selected, Aurum, 1993.
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, selected Aurum, 1994.
- The Oxford Book of Australian Verse Oxford University Press, 1996.
- Selected Poems of Lawrence DurrellLawrence DurrellLawrence George Durrell was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer, though he resisted affiliation with Britain and preferred to be considered cosmopolitan...
Faber and Faber, 2006.
Scores and libretti
- Annotations of Auschwitz, with music by David LumsdaineDavid LumsdaineDavid Lumsdaine is an Australian composer. He studied at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music . He moved to England in 1952 and for a while shared a flat with fellow expatriate, the poet Peter Porter, with whom he collaborated on several projects including the cantata Annotations of...
Universal Edition, 1975. - Orpheus: A Chamber Opera in One Act, music by Geoffrey BurgonGeoffrey BurgonGeoffrey Alan Burgon was a British composer notable for his television and film themes.-Life and career:Burgon was born in Hampshire in 1941, and taught himself the trumpet in order to join a jazz band at school...
Chester Music, 1985. - The Voice of Love, words for a song cycle, music by Nicholas MawNicholas MawJohn Nicholas Maw was a British composer.-Biography:Born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, Maw was the son of Clarence Frederick Maw and Hilda Ellen Chambers. He attended the Wennington School, a boarding school, in Wetherby in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was 14...
. - St Francis and the Wolf, an opera for children, music by Ronald SenatorRonald SenatorRonald Senator is a British composer who divides his time between New York and London.-Early life:Senator studied at Oxford University with Egon Wellesz, a distinguished pupil of Arnold Schoenberg, and later with Arnold Cooke, a pupil of Paul Hindemith, at London University.-Career:He became a...
Sources
- When London Calls: The Expatriation of Australian Creative Artists to Britain, Cambridge University Press, 1999
- Kaiser, John R: Peter Porter: A Bibliography 1954 – 1986 Mansell, London and New York, 1990. ISBN 0-7201-2032-2.
- Steele, PeterPeter SteelePeter Thomas Ratajczyk , better known by his stage name Peter Steele, was the lead singer, bassist, and composer for the gothic metal band Type O Negative...
, Peter Porter: Oxford Australian Writers Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992. ISBN 0-19-553282-1
External links
- Interview of Peter Porter by Ramona Koval, audio and transcript of The Book Show on ABC Radio National, on his last collection, Better than God, 15 April 2009
- Obituary in The Independent
- Guardian obituary 23 April 2010
- Obituary in the Oxonian Review
- Poetry Foundation profile
- Profile at Poetry Archive
- Oxonian Review. 24 May, 2010, Issue 12.3 memorial essay