MacBeth, George Mann

(1932-1992)

   The son of a miner, he was born in Shotts, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, but brought up in Sheffield, and graduated from New College, Oxford, in 1955. In London during the 1950s he was an influential member of "The Group" formed by Philip Hobsbaum and Edward Lucie-Smith; A Group Anthology (1963) is about their work. He was a popular producer of programs for the BBC and wrote novels, books for children, and many anthologies, including The Penguin Book of Sick Verse (1963), The Penguin Book of Animal Verse (1965) and The Penguin Book of Victorian Verse (1969). His early work was experimental, innovative, and extravagant, concentrating on themes of sex, death, war and violence. His later work was simpler and more reflective. He suffered from motor neuron disease and died in Tuam, County Galway, Ireland. Some of his publications: A Form of Words, 1954. The Broken Places, 1963. Poems of Love and Death, 1983. Trespassing: Poems from Ireland, 1991. Some of his poems: "A Basket of Walnuts," "Ash," "The God of Love," "The Miner's Helmet," "The Renewal," "The Rumanian of Maria Banus," "When I Am Dead."

   Sources: Emergency Kit: Poems for Strange Times. Jo Shapcott and Matthew Sweeney, ed. Faber and Faber, 1996. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. Biography of George MacBeth (http://nlc.oldedwardians.org.uk/personal/GeorgeMacBeth.html). Holocaust Poetry. Hilda Schiff, ed. HarperCollins, 1995. The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). P.E.N. New Poetry I. Robert Nye, ed. Quartet Books, 1986. Portraits of Poets. Sebastian Barker, ed. Carcanet, 1986. 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 Modern Poetry: British and American Poetry since World War II. M.L. Rosenthal, ed. Macmillan, 1967. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.