Craig Anthony Raine,

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

(born 3 December 1944) is an English contemporary poet. Along with Christopher Reid, he is a notable pioneer of

Martian poetry Martian poetry was a minor movement in British poetry in the late 1970s and early 1980s, in which everyday things and human behaviour are described in a strange way, as if by a visiting Martian who does not understand them. Poets most closely as ...

, a movement that expresses alienation with the world, society and objects. He was a fellow of

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

, from 1991 to 2010 and is now

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

professor. He has been the editor of ''

Areté ''Areté'' was an arts magazine, published three times a year, edited and founded in 1999 by the poet Craig Raine. The magazine aimed to give detailed coverage of theatre, fiction, and poetry, while also serving as a platform for new writing in ...

'' since 1999. In 2020 the magazine closed after 60 issues.

Early life

Raine was born in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, the son of Norman Edward and Olive Marie Raine.'RAINE, Craig Anthony', Who's Who 2012, A & C Black, 2012; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2011 ; online edn, Nov 201
accessed 20 April 2012
/ref> His father was the North of England amateur

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

champion in 1937. He then worked as a bomb armourer for the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, until forced to retire due to

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...

caused by a skull fracture.FATE PLAYS AN ELECTRIFYING HAND, The Northern Echo, 28 October 2002 After the RAF his father worked as a pub landlord. He was raised in a

prefab Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located. The term is u ...

Shildon Shildon is a town and civil parish in County Durham (district), County Durham, in England. The population taken at the 2011 Census was 9,976. The town has the Locomotion Museum, due to it having the first , built in 1825, and locomotive works on ...

, a town near Bishop Auckland.A life in writing , Books , The Guardian
/ref> He won a scholarship to

Barnard Castle School Barnard Castle School (colloquially Barney School or locally the County School) is a co-educational Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day and boarding school in the market town of Barnard Castle, County Durham, in the North East Engl ...

, where he lived as a boarder. Of his time there he has recalled that it seemed that everyone else's parents seemed to be:

accountants or surgeons or something. I couldn't say my father was an ex-boxer who did faith healing, had epileptic fits and lived off a pension. So for a while I said he was a football manager. But by the end I was inviting my friends home and they thought he was just as terrific as I did.

Raine has commented on his education: "At Barnard Castle I was taught by an absolutely remarkable English teacher, Arnold Snodgrass, a friend of

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

at Oxford nd_later_Robert_Graves.html" ;"title="Robert_Graves.html" ;"title="nd later Robert Graves">nd later Robert Graves">Robert_Graves.html" ;"title="nd later Robert Graves">nd later Robert Graves There was no question that he altered my mindset on things and made me very critical." At school he wrote "'pimply Dylan Thomas' poems, some of which he sent to Philip Toynbee, then lead reviewer at ''The Observer''". Raine received his university education at Exeter College, Oxford, Exeter College,

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, where he received a BA in English and later received his B.Phil.British Council: Biography

Career

He taught at Oxford and followed a literary career as book editor for ''New Review'', editor of ''Quarto'', and poetry editor at the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

''. He became poetry editor at publishers

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...

in 1981, and has been a fellow of

, since 1991, retiring from his post as tutor in June 2010. In 1972 he married Ann Pasternak Slater, a now retired fellow of

St Anne's College, Oxford St Anne's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. It has some 450 undergraduate and 200 ...

. They have one daughter and three sons. Moses Raine is a playwright and

Nina Raine Nina Raine is an English theatre director and playwright, the only daughter of Craig Raine and Ann Pasternak Slater, and a grand niece of the Russian novelist Boris Pasternak. She graduated from Christ Church, Oxford in 1998 with a First in Eng ...

a director and playwright. Craig Raine is founder and editor of the literary magazine ''

'' and a frequent contributor. His works include a number of poetry collections:Nielsen BookData at 27 November 2008 ''The Onion, Memory'' (1978), ''A Martian Sends a Postcard Home'' (1979), ''A Free Translation'' (1981), ''Rich'' (1984), ''History: The Home Movie'' (1994), and ''Clay. Whereabouts Unknown'' (1996). His reviews and essays are collected in two anthologies: ''

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...

and the Valve Trumpet'' (1990) and ''In Defence of T. S. Eliot'' (2000). A short critical-biographical study of Eliot, ''T. S. Eliot: Image, Text and Context'', was published in 2007. His friend

Ian McEwan Ian Russell McEwan, (born 21 June 1948) is an English novelist and screenwriter. In 2008, ''The Times'' featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked him number 19 in its list of th ...

argues that Raine espouses "very strong and clear, almost Arnoldian, ideas of literature and criticism".

Books

Poetry collections

* ''The Onion, Memory'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1978. . * ''A Journey to Greece'', Sycamore Press, 1979 * ''A Martian Sends a Postcard Home'', Oxford University Press, 1979. . * ''A Free Translation'', Salamander, 1981 * ''Rich'',

, 1984 * ''The Prophetic Book'' (bilingual edition with Polish translation by Jerzy Jarniewicz), Correspondance des Arts, 1989 * ''History: The Home Movie'',

Penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

, 1994 * ''Change'', Prospero Poets, 1995 * ''Clay: Whereabouts Unknown'', Penguin, 1996 * ''Collected Poems 1978–1999'',

Picador A ''picador'' (; pl. ''picadores'') is one of the pair of horse-mounted bullfighters in a Spanish-style bullfight that jab the bull with a lance. They perform in the ''tercio de varas'', which is the first of the three stages in a stylized bullf ...

, 1999 * ''A la recherche du temps perdu'', Picador, 2000 * ''How Snow Falls'', 2010

Fiction

* ''Heartbreak'', Atlantic, 2010 * ''The Divine Comedy'', Atlantic, 2012

Drama

* ''1953: A Version of Racine's

Andromaque ''Andromaque'' is a tragedy in five acts by the French playwright Jean Racine written in alexandrine verse. It was first performed on 17 November 1667 before the court of Louis XIV in the Louvre in the private chambers of the Queen, Marie Thérès ...

'', Faber and Faber, 1990

Libretto

* ''The Electrification of the Soviet Union'', Faber and Faber, 1986,

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

Nigel Osborne Nigel Osborne (born 23 June 1948) is a British composer, teacher and aid worker. He served as Reid Professor of Music at the University of Edinburgh and has also taught at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover. He is known f ...

Criticism

* ''Haydn and the Valve Trumpet'', Faber and Faber, 1990 * ''In Defence of T. S. Eliot'', Picador, 2000 * ''T. S. Eliot: Image, Text and Context'', Oxford University Press, 2007 * ''More Dynamite: Essays 1990–2012'', Atlantic, 2013 * ''My Grandmother's Glass Eye: A Look at Poetry'', Atlantic, 2016

As editor

* ''A Choice of Kipling's Prose'', Faber and Faber, 1987 * ''Rudyard Kipling: Selected Poems'', Penguin, 1992 * ''New Writing 7'', (co-editor)

Vintage Vintage, in winemaking, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product—wine (see Harvest (wine)). A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certa ...

, 1998

References

External links

British Council profile

Portraits
at the National Portrait Gallery
"Bad Language: Poetry, Swearing and Translation" article by Craig Raine
in ''Thumbscrew'' magazine, No 1 – Winter 1994-5
"A life in writing"
interview by Nicholas Wroe, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' (17 October 2009)
"The Books Interview: Craig Raine"
''The New Statesman'' 5 July 2010
'Heartache in his Head'
review of ''How Snow Falls'' in ''

The Oxonian Review ''The Oxonian Review'' is a literary magazine produced by postgraduate students at the University of Oxford. Every fortnight during term time, an online edition is published featuring reviews and essays on current affairs and literature. It is t ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Raine, Craig English opera librettists Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Fellows of New College, Oxford Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature 1944 births Living people People educated at Barnard Castle School People from Shildon English male poets English male dramatists and playwrights Pasternak family