Maurice

Daily Telegraph:

"Eliot the surprise choice as nation's favourite poet"
by Graeme Paton:

TS Eliot, the American-born author of 20th century modernist classics such as THE WASTE LAND and THE LOVE SONG OF J. ALFRED PRUFROCK, has been named Britain's favourite poet in a BBC poll.

On a list that included a few surprises, John Donne, the Jacobean metaphysical poet, came second and Benjamin Zephaniah, the Rastafarian writer from Birmingham, was third.

Some experts said that the result was surprising because of the serious and philosophical nature of Eliot's poems.

John Milton, William Wordsworth, Ted Hughes and WH Auden failed to make the top 10, which also did not include any women, despite the likes of Sylia Plath and Christina Rossetti being in the original shortlist of 30.

Thomas Stearns Eliot was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and moved to England in 1914 at the age of 25, becoming a British citizen 13 years later.

He was awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948 for FOUR QUARTETS, a series of long poems meditating on the theme of time. He died in 1965.

Judith Palmer, the director of the Poetry Society, said the BBC's online poll, which attracted 18,000 votes, was being led for several months by Wilfred Owen, the First World War poet, until a late flurry of votes.

"The thing with Eliot, where it is a little bit surprising, is that he is a serious philosophical poet, full of classical allusions," she said.

"It's not the easy choice that people expect in a public vote, and I think it shows that there are a lot of poetry readers out there who can make very considered choices from a big list."

The eventual top ten was:

1. TS ELIOT
2. JOHN DONNE
3. BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH
4. WILFRED OWEN
5. PHILIP LARKIN
6. WILLIAM BLAKE
7. WB YEATS
8. JOHN BETJEMAN
9. JOHN KEATS
10. DYLAN THOMAS

Alan Yentob, the BBC's creative director, said: "While the results demonstrate a growing interest in contemporary poetry, it's good to see that the classic texts still hold a strong place in people's affections."

The poll comes at a time of concern at a decline in the popularity of poetry in schools. A survey last year by the UK Literary Association found that more than half of primary school teachers could name no more than two poets.

Freddy

Top Tens are always personal, A E Houseman would be amongst mine.

The line in Philip Larkin's Aubade ' The good not done, the love not given, time torn off unused' touches me every time.

Wicked Lady

It's hard not to love TS Eliot.

But I'm surprised Samuel Colleridge didn't get on there.

Maurice

Daily Telegraph

These opinions were published today - but are not available online:

YES
by Sameer Rahim
Assistant Books Editor

It is no surprise that TS Eliot has been voted the nation's favourite poet. He remains a hugely influential cultural figure - a man whose essays defined the terms of 20th century criticism and who, through the publishers Faber & Faber, nurtured other poetic greats: WH Auden, Philip Larkin, Ted Hughes among them.

Most of all, his poetry, despite the collected works running to only 200 pages, has a wonderfully resonant quality.

Like scripture or Shakespeare, Eliot's lines have the knack of sticking in the mind. When J. Alfred Prufrock says he has measured out his life with coffee spoons, the modern office worker knows exactly how he feels; when THE WASTE LAND starts with "April is the cruellest month", we recognise the shock of emerging, after a long winter, into spring.

And we all know that familiar deflationary feeling, when something you have been looking forward to ends "not with a bang but with a whimper". Just as Eliot borrowed from other authors ("Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal"), so others borrowed from him, from Evelyn Waugh to Bob Dylan. Even the rapper Chuck D has a track that quotes Eliot.

The excellent ARENA documentary earlier this year reminded us of his life story. Next month Faber will publish the second volume of Eliot's letters. The scholars will continue their work, but the true sign of his greatness is that we quote him so often, perhaps not even knowing that we do.

NO
by Phillip Womack
author and critic

TS Eliot: modernist prophet, inspiration for CATS, mythologiser of the nation's bank clerks in the form of J. Alfred Prufrock, legendary editor at Faber - and the nation's favourite poet? Is there anything this man can't turn his hand to?

The news is both mysterious and baffling. Where are Tennyson, Shakespeare, Wendy Cope - the poets people really like? The choice has, I believe, much more to do with the fact that there was a recent documentary about Eliot on the telly.

Lovely though it may be to think that every night we sit down after supper to peruse THE FOUR QUARTETS, it somehow doesn't seem likely.

Bard number two on the list, John Donne, was recently fruitily eulogised by everyone's favourite uncle, Simon Schama, thereby ensuring his place until the BBC get Ben Fogle to present a four-part show on John Ashbery. It won't be long.

Close on John Donne's heels is Benjamin Zephaniah, an excellent poet indeed, and one with a media presence the size of a minor galaxy. He even did some vocals on an album by the Sheffield grime artist Toddla T.

The fact is, poetry no longer has a place in the nation's heart.

Sadly, we aren't spoon-fed sonnets by the gallon any more, so we've forgotten what it's like to be moved and inspired by poetry's rhythm and beauty, whilst the opaque quality of much modern poetry leaves many feeling at a loss.

GoggleboxUK

What? No Pam Ayres???

It's hard not to love anyone whose name is an anagram of Toilets

"There's always something"

quippy

My favourite is John Clare. A poet who dwelt within the world of his poems completely.

I also love the Cornish poet Charles Causley.

God liked Saturn so much, he put a ring on it.

Wicked Lady

It's a bit rough blaming Toilets for Cats, isn't it?

No one blames The Bible for Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat!

GoggleboxUK

In all seriousness, where is Rupert Brooke? He should definitely have made that list.

I can forgive Wilfred Owen being there rather than Siegfried Sassoon who I much prefer but accept he's a little too dark for popular taste.

No Shelley, Byron, Tennyson Keats or Wordworth either, I'm surprised JK Rowling didn't make the list for her using Malfoy and Head Boy in the same paragraph.

Telegraph readers, no idea of romance. Philistines!

"There's always something"

CaptainWaggett

It was a BBC poll. I assume the results partly reflect what poems gets read out or discussed on Radio 4 poetry programmes. And since people only get one vote, you can hardly blame them for who they don't choose.

I'm surprised about John Donne though. And that Betjeman wasn't higher (though I can't bear him myself - maybe middle Englanders are fed up of being told he's their spiritual guru)

dremble wedge

I remember voting on this poll. I voted for Byron because I thought Yeats would get enough to win anyway

CaptainWaggett

You just fancied the Bad Lord's breeches

dremble wedge

I rather think it was his headwear, you wouldn't find T S Eliot apparelled thus...

quippy

How come Benjamin Zephaniah is the only one still alive?

Doesn't anyone like poets that aren't brown bread yet?

God liked Saturn so much, he put a ring on it.

GoggleboxUK

I'm a fan of John Cooper Clark, does that count?

"There's always something"

CaptainWaggett

Would you choose him if you only had one vote?

You'd think R4 listeners would go for John Hegley though...