Derek Walcott authographing books at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada during a recent visit as Guest Writer

Photo credit: Nduka Otiono

Writers, Lee Swenson, Nduka Otiono and Robert Hass

Photo credit: Nduka Otiono

In the early years, a famous participant in the society’s activities was the Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas, at that time living in a summer-house in the grounds of Magdalen College, whose “don-draped greenery” – as he described it in an unpublished poem – is little altered today. His daughter, Aeronwy Thomas, joined Martin Starkie and a host of members past and present at the society’s sixtieth anniversary celebrations in October 2006, where she read some of Thomas’s best-loved verse and Mr Starkie gave a vivid rendition of extracts from his beloved Canterbury Tales.

The society has always attracted high-calibre readers and speakers: the Scottish poet Hugh MacDiarmid, and the poet and novelist Vita Sackville-West (twice winner of the Hawthornden Prize) were among the early visitors, while in the past two years a host of famous names have entertained the society’s members, including the poet laureate Andrew Motion, Craig Raine, Paul Muldoon and Matthew Sweeney. In addition to hearing memorable renditions of some of the best of twentieth and twenty-first century poetry, readings offer a valuable opportunity for young writers to put pertinent enquiries to the great and the good: Anne Stevenson has answered questions on life-writing, and recently Fiona Sampson, the editor of Poetry Review, discussed the process of selecting a poem for publication. 2008 will see a visit by Forward Prize winner, Daljit Nagra, along with a diverse selection of other poets: absolutely anyone is welcome to get in touch with the society and to attend our events; in keeping with the society’s traditions, they are not restricted to members of the university.

Our activities don’t stop at listening – most of our members are keen writers too. Oxford’s dynamic young talents come together every Wednesday evening – usually, and perhaps unsurprisingly, in a pub: liquid refreshment apparently helps to quell the nerves – to workshop their own poems and develop their writing through amicable constructive criticism. Success has not been slow in coming for some of our members: 2007 will see the publication by Clutag Press of Flood, a long poem by Paul Abbott, who won the Newdigate Prize during his first year at Oxford; other current members have achieved success in the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award, the Christopher Tower Poetry Prize, the London Metropolitan University Poetry Prize, the Ledbury Poetry Competition and the Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry in Translation.

Oxford University Poetry Society also administers two competitions of its own: the long-running Martin Starkie Prize, and a new competition in declamation, or the speaking of poetry (also sponsored by Mr Starkie, who, along with Magdalen don Dr Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, is judging the final), which is being held for the first time in Michaelmas term 2007 and has been dubbed “the Pop-Idol of Verse-Reading”. The same term has seen the inaugural issue of the society’s own magazine, Ash, which – taking its title from Leonard Cohen’s perceptive comment that “Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash” – aims to showcase the best student poetry in Oxford, to review the society’s events and to offer writing exercises, such as responding to a painting, designed to break down the most stubborn writer’s block.

Additionally, this year’s committee is keen to bring in more poets for focused workshopping sessions with our undergraduate members. We got off to a rousing start, one chilly October night, with a visit from Afam Akeh, editor of African Writing, who combined insightful and sensitive critiques of the participants’ poems – a diverse collection, ranging from pithy to baroque – with the opportunity to hear him read from his own work, including a moving extract from his forthcoming second collection, Letter Home. Lively debate ensued when a variety of controversial topics were raised by our poetic offerings, including the old rhyme/free verse debate and whether poetry is, can, or should be political. Afam also gave us some helpful pointers concerning the practicalities of establishing a poetic career, a question which is perhaps too often neglected in workshop situations focussing exclusively on matters of craft or, indeed, “inspiration”. We can all benefit from a timely reminder that it’s a poet-eat-poet world out there!

Chloe Stopa-Hunt

Chloe is an undergraduate at New College, Oxford, and president of Oxford University Poetry Society. She has twice been a Foyle Young Poet of the Year, and her poems have been published in Oxford Poetry and Agenda Broadsheet 7.