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Date: May 18, 1999
Princeton's Muldoon Elected Unopposed to Poetry Post at Oxford
Princeton, N.J. -- Princeton University Professor Paul Muldoon has been elected to the honorary position Professor of Poetry at Oxford University. Election to the 291-year-old post does not require Muldoon to leave Princeton, only to give a few lectures at Oxford each year for five years.
Muldoon, a member of the Princeton faculty since 1990, is the Howard G.B. Clark '21 University Professor in the Humanities and directs Princeton's Creative Writing Program.
Oxford created the Professor of Poetry position in 1708. Muldoon is the 42nd person to hold the post, following such acclaimed poets as Robert Graves, W.H. Auden, Cecil Day Lewis, Seamus Heaney and Matthew Arnold. "It's a quite daunting list of past holders, but one can't afford to think too much about that," said Muldoon. "I'm eager to do more lecturing, though, and want to take a swing through poetry in English."
To be elected to the professorship, candidates submit their names and stand for election. The position has been avidly contested in past years, but this year Muldoon ran uncontested with what appeared to be a broad consensus among the Oxford electorate. Nomination for election requires 12 names in support of the candidate; Muldoon had 49 nominators.
Fellow poet Tom Paulin of Hertford College was the force behind Muldoon's unopposed candidacy. Paulin "did such a great job in massing the forces in Oxford that I suspect others may have had second thoughts about standing," said Muldoon.
In 1997, Muldoon won the Irish Literature Prize for Poetry for his book New Selected Poems 1968-1994 (Faber and Faber, London). Muldoon was born in Northern Ireland in 1951 and worked for many years in radio and television before coming into the academic world in the mid-1980s.
Muldoon will serve in the Oxford professorship until October 2004 and will receive an annual stipend of L4,695, which is equivalent to about $7,600.
Note: Photos of Paul Muldoon can be downloaded from the Princeton University web site. The location is http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pictures/98/