"and October 1892, there was a break of four years as a mark of respect; Tennyson's laureate poems ""Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington"" and ""The Charge of the Light Brigade"" were particularly cherished by the Victorian public. Five poets, Thomas Gray, Samuel Rogers, Walter Scott, Philip Larkin and Seamus Heaney, turned down the laureateship. The holder of the position as of 2018 is Carol Ann Duffy, who was appointed in May 2009 on a fixed ten-year term. The origins of the poet laureateship date back to 1616 when James I of England granted a pension to"
"""The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse"" (1973). His many honours include the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. He was offered, but declined, the position of Poet Laureate in 1984, following the death of Sir John Betjeman. After graduating from Oxford in 1943 with a first in English language and literature, Larkin became a librarian. It was during the thirty years he worked with distinction as university librarian at the Brynmor Jones Library at the University of Hull that he produced the greater part of his published work. His poems are marked by what Andrew Motion calls ""a very"
"John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster who described himself in ""Who's Who"" as a ""poet and hack"". He was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture. He began his career as a journalist and ended it as one of the most popular British Poets Laureate and a much-loved figure on British television. Betjeman was born John Betjemann. He was the son of a prosperous silverware maker of Dutch"
"was also instrumental in saving the Duke of Cornwall Hotel in Plymouth. Some works include: John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster who described himself in ""Who's Who"" as a ""poet and hack"". He was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture. He began his career as a journalist and ended it as one of the most popular British Poets Laureate and a much-loved figure on British television. Betjeman"
"""How to Make a Guidebook"", and went on to appear in a wide range of programmes until his death. His television appearances increased from the 1950s, and his output was prolific. In 1960 Betjeman was appointed a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE), which was followed in 1968 with his election as a Companion of Literature. In 1969 he was knighted and, in 1972, he succeeded Cecil Day-Lewis as Britain's Poet Laureate. In the later years of his life, Betjeman suffered from Parkinson's disease, and he died in May 1984. His obituarist in ""The Times"""
"Works of John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984) was a twentieth-century English poet, writer and broadcaster. Born to a middle-class family in Edwardian Hampstead, he attended Oxford University, although left without graduating. He turned down a position in the family furniture business, and instead took a series of jobs before becoming the assistant editor of ""The Architectural Review"" in 1931, which reflected a deeply held affection for buildings and their history. That same year he published his first book, ""Mount Zion"", a collection of poems. In 1932 Betjeman began a career in broadcasting, with a radio programme about the proposed"
"the post of Poet Laureate. He declined, not least because he felt he had long since ceased to be a writer of poetry in a meaningful sense. The following year Larkin began to suffer from oesophageal cancer. On 11 June 1985 he underwent surgery, but his cancer was found to have spread and was inoperable. On 28 November he collapsed and was readmitted to hospital. He died four days later, on 2 December 1985, at the age of 63, and was buried at the Cottingham municipal cemetery near Hull. His grave can be found on the left hand side of"
"scholarship by the Society of Authors. There was a campaign to have him appointed Poet Laureate on the death of John Betjeman, but to the people of his home town, he became ""the greatest poet laureate we never had"". He was interviewed by Roy Plomley on ""Desert Island Discs"" on 1 December 1979: his music choices included five classical selections and three others while his chosen book was ""Boswell's Life of Johnson"". In 1982, on his 65th birthday, a book of poems was published in his honour that included contributions from Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney, Philip Larkin and twenty-three other"
"and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity."" Of the 16 poets, Graves was the only one still living at the time of the commemoration ceremony. UK government documents released in 2012 indicate that Graves turned down a CBE in 1957. In 2012 the Nobel Records were opened after 50 years, and it was revealed that Graves was among a shortlist of authors considered for the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature, along with John Steinbeck (winner), Lawrence Durrell, Jean Anouilh and Karen Blixen. Graves was rejected because even though he had written several historical novels he was"
"be named Poet Laureate, was John Masefield. Masefield was followed by writer and academic Dean Inge, known as ""The Gloomy Dean"". Upon Inge's death economist and social reformer Lord Beveridge was given the position. Beveridge had known the Warden from their time in Government together and had alike political views. He authored the influential Beveridge report which put in place much of framework behind the welfare state, particularly the National Health Service. He took the position in 1954 and served until his death in 1963. He was followed by Lord Lloyd of Kilgerran. Old Bembridgians include Ian Mosby (model), Darsie"
"Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear the case by denying Baraka's Petition for a Writ for Certiorari. Poet Laureate of New Jersey The Poet Laureate of New Jersey (statutorily known as New Jersey William Carlos Williams Citation of Merit) was an honor presented biennially by the Governor of New Jersey to a distinguished New Jersey poet. Created in 1999, this position existed for less than four years and was abolished by the legislature effective July 2, 2003. When the New Jersey State Legislature created the laureate position, the bill provided specifically for the creation of an award"
"Betjeman undertook the role of editor for several magazines and journals, including the undergraduate magazines of ""Oxford Outlook"" and ""Cherwell""; the following consists of the books he edited. Works of John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984) was a twentieth-century English poet, writer and broadcaster. Born to a middle-class family in Edwardian Hampstead, he attended Oxford University, although left without graduating. He turned down a position in the family furniture business, and instead took a series of jobs before becoming the assistant editor of ""The Architectural Review"" in 1931, which reflected a deeply held affection for buildings and their history. That"
"read 'Requiem for the Croppies' wasn't to say ‘up the IRA’ or anything. It was silence-breaking rather than rabble-rousing."" He stated, ""You don't have to love it. You just have to permit it."" He turned down the offer of laureateship of the United Kingdom, partly for political reasons, commenting, ""I’ve nothing against the Queen personally: I had lunch at the Palace once upon a time."" He stated that his ""cultural starting point"" was ""off-centre"". A much-quoted statement was when he objected to being included in ""The Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry"" (1982). Although he was born in Northern Ireland,"
"September 1942 in Dublin where her father, John Betjeman (later Sir John), was wartime press attaché at the British Embassy. Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh, a friend of her father, celebrated her birth with a poem ""Candida"". Her mother, the Hon. Penelope Valentine Hester Betjeman (née Chetwode; 1910–1986), was the daughter of Field-Marshal Sir Philip Chetwode (later Lord Chetwode) (1869–1950). Her paternal grandparents, Ernest and Mabel (""Bess"") Betjemann (her father dispensed with the second ""n""), died in 1934 and 1951 respectively. In 2007 Candida attributed to Ernest Betjemann, said by her father to be a hater of verse, a poem found"
"Knight: Betjeman became Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in 1972, the first Knight Bachelor to be appointed (the only other, Sir William Davenant, was knighted after his appointment). This role, combined with his popularity as a television performer, ensured that his poetry reached an audience enormous by the standards of the time. Similarly to Tennyson, he appealed to a wide public and managed to voice the thoughts and aspirations of many ordinary people while retaining the respect of many of his fellow poets. This is partly because of the apparently simple traditional metrical structures and rhymes he uses. In"
"three days later on the brow of Firefly Hill, overlooking the north coast of the island. A memorial service was held in St Martin-in-the-Fields in London on 29 May 1973, for which the Poet Laureate, John Betjeman, wrote and delivered a poem in Coward's honour, John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier read verse and Yehudi Menuhin played Bach. On 28 March 1984 a memorial stone was unveiled by the Queen Mother in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey. Thanked by Coward's partner, Graham Payn, for attending, the Queen Mother replied, ""I came because he was my friend."" The Noël Coward Theatre in St"
"on 19 May 1984, aged 77, and is buried nearby at St Enodoc's Church. Betjeman's poems are often humorous, and in broadcasting he exploited his bumbling and fogeyish image. His wryly comic verse is accessible and has attracted a great following for its satirical and observant grace. Auden said in his introduction to ""Slick But Not Streamlined"", ""so at home with the provincial gaslit towns, the seaside lodgings, the bicycle, the harmonium."" His poetry is similarly redolent of time and place, continually seeking out intimations of the eternal in the manifestly ordinary. There are constant evocations of the physical chaff"
"reasons unknown, abandoned the writing of poetry around 1934, he wrote four poems in 1977 and 1978 which he circulated amongst friends and colleagues as limited state broadsides. Wandrei circulated iconoclastic letter-essays that denounced many of the organized forces behind the modern fantasy movement – a movement he, as a founder of Arkham House, was instrumental in setting motion. In 1984, Wandrei was awarded the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. However, he refused to accept the award on the basis that the bust representing the award was a demeaning caricature of Lovecraft, whom he had known personally. He died"
"1932 Northwick Park was said to have grown over the previous five years at the rate of 1,000 houses annually and Rayners Lane to ""repay a visit at short intervals to see it grow"". In the mid-20th century the spirit of Metro-land was evoked in three ""late chrysanthemums"" by Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984), Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death: ""Harrow-on-the-Hill"" (""When melancholy autumn comes to Wembley / And electric trains are lighted after tea""), ""Middlesex"" (""Gaily into Ruislip Gardens / Runs the red electric train"") and ""The Metropolitan Railway"" (""Early Electric! With what radiant hope / Men formed this"
"given any clear, specific duties. The honorarium of the position was only $ 1,200 by 1984. However, this honorarium was cut by Governor Mark Sanford in 2003 when Wentworth agreed to serve without the pay. Prior to the official creation of the position in 1934, William Gilmore Simms had been often recognized as South Carolina's poet laureate. The following is a list of official South Carolina poets laureate. South Carolina Poet Laureate The South Carolina Poet Laureate is the poet laureate for the US state of South Carolina. The position is currently held by Marjory Heath Wentworth. No term of"
"the Brynmor Jones Library; and visiting churches and cemeteries. The film was more recently broadcast on BBC Four. In 1981, Larkin was part of a group of poets who surprised John Betjeman on his seventy-fifth birthday by turning up on his doorstep with gifts and greetings. This scene was filmed by Jonathan Stedall and later featured in the third episode of his 1983 series for BBC2, ""Time With Betjeman"". In 1982, as part of the celebrations for his sixtieth birthday, Larkin was the subject of ""The South Bank Show"". Although Larkin declined the invitation to appear in the programme, he"
"a live performance before the Queen. In July 1878, he walked from Dundee to Balmoral, a distance of about over mountainous terrain and through a violent thunderstorm to perform for Queen Victoria. When he arrived, he announced himself as ""The Queen's Poet"". The guards informed him ""You're not the Queen's poet! Tennyson is the Queen's poet!"" (Alfred Lord Tennyson was the poet laureate). McGonagall presented the letter but was refused entry and had to return home. Undeterred, his poetry writing continued, and he reported events to the newspapers, earning some minor recognition. Throughout his life McGonagall campaigned against excessive drinking,"
"Patten who at the time were not accepted by mainstream critics (although they were featured in the best-selling ""The Mersey Sound"" anthology from 1967). Lucie-Smith wrote in the introduction: The first edition of the anthology was reprinted several times. A revised edition appeared in 1985; it omitted some poets and added new ones. The new sections recognised the increasing influence of the Northern Irish and ""university"" poets. A. Alvarez - Kingsley Amis - George Barker - Patricia Beer - Martin Bell - Francis Berry - John Betjeman - D. M. Black - Thomas Blackburn - Alan Bold - Alan Brownjohn"
"Princess Margaret to Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1951, and although she herself never married, she did form a close romantic relationship with the writer and future Poet Laureate John Betjeman that same year. Betjeman's daughter Candida Lycett Green had called her her father's ""beloved other wife"". Lady Elizabeth was one of the godparents of David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon. When Betjeman died in Cornwall on 19 May 1984, Lady Elizabeth was at his side. She was appointed Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO) in 1976 and Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in 1997. Lady Elizabeth Cavendish died"
"have taught him. Betjeman finally had to leave at the end of the Michaelmas term, 1928. Betjeman did pass his Divinity examination on his third try but was 'sent down' after failing the Pass School. He had achieved a satisfactory result in only one of the three required papers (on Shakespeare and other English authors). Betjeman's academic failure at Oxford rankled with him for the rest of his life and he was never reconciled with C.S. Lewis, towards whom he nursed a bitter detestation. This situation was perhaps complicated by his enduring love of Oxford, from which he accepted an"
"of 44 years, and their daughter. John Hartley Williams John Hartley Williams (7 February 1942 – 3 May 2014) was a British poet who was born in Cheshire and grew up in London. He studied at the University of Nottingham and later at the University of London. His poetry book ""Blues"" was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize. He was a judge of the 2007 Poetry on the Lake poetry competition, a judge of the Keats-Shelley Prize for Poetry, and a tutor at the Arvon Foundation. He died from cancer at his home in Berlin in May 2014. He"
"for approval. Dryden's salary for the laureateship was £200 per year. In 1630 Charles I added an annual ""butt of Canary wine"", although this was later discontinued in place of the monetary equivalent. When John Betjeman was appointed, he rekindled the tradition, and received 720 bottles of sherry; as at 2015 this practice continues. Since Motion's appointment the DCMS provided an annual honorarium of £5,750; Motion also received an additional £19,000 for his work in education. With Duffy's appointment, the salary returned to £5,750 and the barrel of sherry. Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom The British Poet Laureate is"
"student) at Magdalen College and entered the newly created School of English Language and Literature. At Oxford, Betjeman made little use of the academic opportunities. His tutor, a young C. S. Lewis, regarded him as an ""idle prig"" and Betjeman in turn considered Lewis unfriendly, demanding, and uninspiring as a teacher. Betjeman particularly disliked the coursework's emphasis on linguistics, and dedicated most of his time to cultivating his social life and his interest in English ecclesiastical architecture, and to private literary pursuits. At Oxford he was a friend of Maurice Bowra, later (1938 to 1970) to be Warden of Wadham."
"for Biography, was responsible for bringing about a substantial revision of Larkin's reputation. Motion was Editorial Director and Poetry Editor at Chatto & Windus (1983–89), he edited the Poetry Society's ""Poetry Review"" from 1980–1982 and succeeded Malcolm Bradbury as Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. He is now on the faculty at the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars. Motion was appointed Poet Laureate on 1 May 1999, following the death of Ted Hughes, the previous incumbent. The Nobel Prize-winning Northern Irish poet and translator Seamus Heaney had ruled himself out for the post. Breaking with the tradition"
"John Fowles, Theodor Geisel, Thomas Middleton, Samuel Johnson, Christopher Hitchens, Robert Graves, Evelyn Waugh, Lewis Carroll, Aldous Huxley, Oscar Wilde, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Graham Greene, V.S.Naipaul, Vera Brittain, Dorothy L. Sayers, A.S. Byatt, Iris Murdoch, Philip Pullman, Joseph Heller, Vikram Seth, the poets Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Donne, A. E. Housman, Gerard Manley Hopkins, W. H. Auden, T. S. Eliot, Wendy Perriam and Philip Larkin, and seven poets laureate: Thomas Warton, Henry James Pye, Robert Southey, Robert Bridges, Cecil Day-Lewis, Sir John Betjeman, and Andrew Motion. Composers Hubert Parry, George Butterworth, John Taverner, William Walton, James"
"relocated from Clarence Dock following the refusal of its planning permission for that site. In 1968 John Betjeman made a television film called ""A Poet Goes North"" in which he gave his opinion on the changing architecture of Leeds. Betjeman described the constant sound of falling Victorian architecture. Betjeman also lambasted British Railways House (now City House) saying it blocked all the light out to City Square and was only a testament to money and had no architectural merit of its own. Betjeman also praised Leeds Town Hall in the film. The film, which was never broadcast at the time,"
"he was the best, so to be the last, Latin poet of the Westminster line."" In another letter Cowper wrote, ""I lost more than I got by him; for he made me as idle as himself."" In 1734 he published his ""Poemata, Latine partim reddita, partim scripta"", with a dedication to the Duke of Newcastle, and in November of the same year he was appointed housekeeper and deputy sergeant-at-arms to the House of Commons. Later the Duke of Newcastle offered him valuable ecclesiastical preferment, which he declined from conscientious motives. In a letter to his wife, written shortly before his"
"managers were defeated, and Theophilus regained control of the company on his own terms. Cibber's appointment as Poet Laureate in December 1730 was widely assumed to be a political rather than artistic honour, and a reward for his untiring support of the Whigs, the party of Prime Minister Robert Walpole. Most of the leading writers, such as Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope, were excluded from contention for the laureateship because they were Tories. Cibber's verses had few admirers even in his own time, and Cibber acknowledged cheerfully that he did not think much of them. His 30 birthday odes for"