Crawford, Robert

(1959- )

   Scottish poet, born in Belshill, Lanarkshire, he received his M.A. from Glasgow University and his doctorate of philosophy from Oxford. After teaching at the universities of Oxford and Glasgow, in 1989 he started teaching at St. Andrews, where he is currently professor of modern Scottish literature and head of the School of English. He has served as a judge for the T.S. Eliot Prize, the National Poetry Competition, and other awards. Teaching interests include Scottish literature, modern and contemporary poetry, T.S. Eliot, and creative writing. He lives in St. Andrews, near the sea, and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He has published several volumes of literary criticism on Scottish literature and poetry. His awards: Eric Gregory, 1988. Scottish Arts Council Book, 1993 and 1999. Some of his poetry publications: A Scottish Assembly, 1990. Sharawaggi, 1990 (with W.N. Herbert, see entry). The Tip of My Tongue, 2003. Selected Poems, 2005. Some of his poems: "At Landsdowne Kirk," "Blue Song," "Doun the Burn, Davie," "Downtown Sunday," "Scotland in the 1890s," "The Herr-Knit Bunnet," "To Henry Darnley, King of Scots."

   Sources: British Council Arts (http://www.contemporarywriters.com). Golden Treasury of the Best Songs & Lyrical Poems in the English Language. Francis Turner Palgrave, ed. Oxford University Press (1964, Sixth edition, updated by John Press, 1994). Professor Robert Crawford (Head of School) (http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/english/crawford/home.html). Outsiders: Poems about Rebels, Exiles, and Renegades. Laure-Anne Bosselaar, ed. Milkweed Editions, 1999. Penguin Modern Poets, Book 9. John Burnside, Robert Crawford, and Kathleen Jamie, ed. Penguin Books, 1996. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The New Penguin Book of Scottish Verse. Robert Crawford and Mick Imlah, ed. Penguin Books, 2000. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The Penguin Book of Poetry from Britain and Ireland Since 1945. Robert Crawford, and Simon Armitage, ed. Penguin Books, 1998. The Scottish Collection of Verse to 1800. Eileen Dunlop and Kamm Antony, eds. Richard Drew, 1985.