Where poetry meets gossip
Why are the media so interested in Oxford University’s Professor of Poetry?
Simon Armitage was announced as the latest holder of Oxford’s 300-year old Professorship of Poetry on Friday (June 19).
The historic professorship gives the University and its Faculty of English Language and Literature an opportunity to raise its profile in the national and international media. During the lengthy election period, we kept the media informed about the process of the election, sending out four press releases.
The election was covered by media across the world. But before the reader assumes this is standard PR gloating over a media relations triumph, we should admit that the articles bore almost no relation to our press releases.
‘Oxford’s battle of the bards get dirty’,
announced The Sunday Times on 24 May. Their arts correspondent Richard Brooks wrote: ‘The Nigerian Nobel literature prize winner Wole Soyinka, one of five candidates running to be Oxford’s next Professor of Poetry, is reported to be ‘losing support amid questions about how often he would visit Oxford and concern that he has not even taken the trouble to provide a candidate’s statement on how he would approach the job.’
Three days later, the retort came via an article in The Guardian titled ‘Nobel laureate hits back in battle for top poetry role’. Journalist Jessica Elgot quoted Wole Soyinka as saying:
‘How curious that anyone would even speculate that I would allow busy and committed people — friends, colleagues and total strangers — to waste their time nominating and campaigning on my behalf for such a prestigious position if I were not serious about contesting.’
Other memorable headlines included The Observer’s ‘Brawls, booze and slurs are pure poetry’. Private Eye attempted a humorous alternative list of candidates, although its suggestion of the “nearly posthumous” Clive James drew an angry response from readers.
Why were media so interested in the story?
Partly it is the prestige of the post. It is a 300 year-old position at an ancient university. There are not many literary posts which are more prominent than the Professor of Poetry. The Nobel Laureate for Literature is one, but even with this accolade Wole Soyinka still entered the Oxford election.
But perhaps more than anything, the election gives the media a chance to dwell on the gossip, intrigue and campaigning which surround an election. The candidates and their supporters are often known to journalists, who use their excellent contact books to find their own stories.
The potential for gossip, combined with the prestigious reputation of the post, makes the professorship perfect media fodder. News is something that surprises people and makes them want to tell the story to someone else and recent Professor of Poetry elections have certainly achieved that.
‘I love the fact that people care about who wins an academic post in poetry — that they campaign and pick sides and, sometimes, engage in dirty tricks,’
says Alison Flood, who covered the Professor of Poetry election for The Guardian.
‘It shows it still means something. It also reminds us that poets are real people, not just ethereal beings scribbling away in an ivory tower — that they’re willing to fight for a job just like the rest of us.’
The gossip and intrigue peaked in the 2009 election, in which Derek Walcott pulled out of the race after Oxford academics were sent anonymous allegations about him. Ruth Padel was elected to the post but resigned shortly afterwards and another election was held the following year.
Clearly the media were looking for a similar scrap this time round. This became clear to me when one eager reporter from a Sunday paper responded to my rather procedural press release with a one-line email:
‘Any more hissy fits?’
But there were no ‘hissy fits’ as Professor Armitage was elected with 301 votes more than his nearest rival. The resulting coverage almost seemed muted. The Independent’s headline summed up the media’s disappointment:
“No skulduggery” as Armitage wins Oxford post.
We are perfectly relaxed about this tone of coverage. It reinforces the Professor of Poetry’s position as one of the most prominent poets in the world and heightens interest in literary matters. Who knows, perhaps a talented student will read the Hindustan Times report on the election and decide to apply to Oxford to study English literature?
The enormous interest in the election also leads us to expect a full house when Professor Armitage gives his inaugural lecture in the autumn. We will reserve seats for the world’s media, although we warn them that there will not be a ‘hissy fit’ in sight…
Matt Pickles, News & Information Office, University of Oxford
