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Robert Crawford (born 1959) is a Scottish poet, scholar and critic. He is currently Professor of English at the
University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...
.


Early life

Robert Crawford was born in
Bellshill Bellshill (pronounced "Bells hill") is a town in North Lanarkshire in Scotland, southeast of Glasgow city centre and west of Edinburgh. Other nearby localities are Motherwell to the south, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton to the south ...
, Scotland, and grew up in
Cambuslang Cambuslang ( sco, Cammuslang, from gd, Camas Lang) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a ...
. He was educated at the private
Hutchesons' Grammar School Hutchesons' Grammar School is a co-educational independent day school for pupils aged 3-18 in Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded as Hutchesons' Boys' Grammar School by George Hutcheson and Thomas Hutcheson in 1641 It is a selective school, m ...
and in the same city at
Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...
, where he received his M.A. degree. He then went to
Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...
, where he received his D. Phil.


Family

His paternal grandfather was a Minister in the
Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...
and Crawford considers himself a "Christian with a Presbyterian accent, rather than a
Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
", which he feels has rather assertive overtones in the contemporary West of Scotland. He has written on the relationship between science and religion as well as religious poetry.


Themes

His main interest is in Post-Enlightenment Scottish literature, including
Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...
and
Robert Fergusson Robert Fergusson (5 September 1750 – 16 October 1774) was a Scottish poet. After formal education at the University of St Andrews, Fergusson led a bohemian life in Edinburgh, the city of his birth, then at the height of intellectual and c ...
, but he has a keen interest in contemporary poetry, including Edwin Morgan,
Douglas Dunn Douglas Eaglesham Dunn, OBE (born 23 October 1942) is a Scottish poet, academic, and critic. He is Professor of English and Director of St Andrew's Scottish Studies Institute at St Andrew's University. Background Dunn was born in Inchinnan, Re ...
and
Liz Lochhead Liz Lochhead Hon FRSE (born 26 December 1947) is a Scottish poet, playwright, translator and broadcaster. Between 2011 and 2016 she was the Makar, or National Poet of Scotland, and served as Poet Laureate for Glasgow between 2005 and 2011. E ...
. Crawford is a prolific and successful poet and concerns himself with the nature and processes of creative writing. He has a particular interest in the work of T. S. Eliot and other aspects of
Modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
. He is interested in the relationship between literature, particularly poetry, and
modern science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient history, ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural science, natural, social science, social, and formal science, formal. Sc ...
, including information technology. He says he shares an appreciation of poetry and science as kinds of discovery quickened by observation and imagination. He even goes so far as to claim that it "is part of the poet's delight even duty, to use such cientificwords and experience in poetry". The geography and place names of Scotland feature very prominently in his own poems and he takes a lively interest in the developing politics of contemporary Scotland, as well as science, politics, religion, landscape, and environment and spirituality. Many of his poems also deal with gender and sex (particularly married sex).


Language

Crawford writes in a modern English, with a few nods to dialect words, with an occasional made-up word or a word borrowed from technical science. The main forms he uses are short and lyrical. He has translated from the 17th-century
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
of the
Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...
poet Arthur Johnston. He was a founder of the international magazine ''Verse'' in 1984 and worked as poetry editor for the Edinburgh publisher Polygon in the 1990s. With
Simon Armitage Simon Robert Armitage (born 26 May 1963) is an English poet, playwright, musician and novelist. He was appointed Poet Laureate on 10 May 2019. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds. He has published over 20 collections of poetr ...
, he is co-editor of ''The Penguin Book of Poetry from Britain and Ireland since 1945'' (1998) and, with
Mick Imlah Michael Ogilvie Imlah (26 September 1956 – 12 January 2009), better known as Mick Imlah, was a Scottish poet and editor. Background Imlah was brought up in Milngavie near Glasgow, before moving to Beckenham, Kent, in 1966. He was educated at Ma ...
, he co-edited ''The New Penguin Book of Scottish Verse'' (2000). He publishes poetry and occasional works of criticism in the ''
London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of ...
'' and ''
The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...
''.


Awards

He has won several prizes, notably
*1988:
Eric Gregory Award The Eric Gregory Award is a literary award given annually by the Society of Authors for a collection by British poets under the age of 30. The award was founded in 1960 by Dr. Eric Gregory to support and encourage young poets. In 2021, the seven ...

*1993:
Scottish Arts Council Book Award The Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book Awards, formerly known as the Scottish Arts Council Book Awards, were a series of literary awards in Scotland that ran from 1972 to 2013. Organised by Creative Scotland (formerly the Scottish Arts Counci ...
for ''Identifying Poets''
*1999:
Scottish Arts Council Book Award The Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book Awards, formerly known as the Scottish Arts Council Book Awards, were a series of literary awards in Scotland that ran from 1972 to 2013. Organised by Creative Scotland (formerly the Scottish Arts Counci ...
for ''Spirit Machines''
*2007:
Saltire Society The Saltire Society is a membership organisation which aims to promote the understanding of the culture and heritage of Scotland. Founded in 1936, the society was "set up to promote and celebrate the uniqueness of Scottish culture and Scotland’s ...
's Scottish Research Book of the Year for ''Scotland's Books; The Penguin History of Scottish Literature,''
He is a
Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...
(FRSE). In August 2011 he was elected a fellow of the
British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
.


Works

* ''The Bard: Robert Burns, A Biography''. 2021 *''Young Eliot: A Biography''. 2015 * * * "Eliot After the Wasteland," 2022


Poetry books

* * * * ''Spirit Machines'' (1999) * * * *


Co-authored

*


Edited

* *


Anthologies

*


References


External links


"Robert Crawford"
''Contemporary Writers'', British Council

''The Poetry House'', St. Andrew’s University
"Robert Crawford"
''Literary Encyclopedia'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Robert 20th-century Scottish poets 1959 births 20th-century British male writers 21st-century British male writers 21st-century Scottish poets Academics of the University of St Andrews Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Glasgow Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Living people People from Cambuslang Scottish male poets Scottish scholars and academics