"Poetry, which is in Oxford made
An art, in London is only a trade".
What may have been true in Dryden's day is, sadly, true no more. Trade has taken over the dreaming spires and poetry has joined the lost causes, passed its sell-by date. The decision of the Oxford University Press to close its poetry list - a move endorsed by a committee of dons - has sullied the image of the whole university. A week after the decision it has become a public relations disaster out of all proportion to the paltry sums involved. The OUP is coy about figures but it is believed that the turnover of the list was between £28,000 and £50,000.
This compares with last night's Turner prize of £20,000 and estimates of up to £6 million for the profit that the OUP as a whole makes for the university. The list wasn't even losing money. According to the OUP it was "barely covering its costs". Oh dear. Goodness knows what would have happened to the early Shakespeare or the emerging Marlowe if the OUP had found they too weren't making "a reasonable dividend to go back to the original owners, the university." There's no such thing, it seems, as free verse, everything must contribute to the university's purse.
It has been argued that closure doesn't matter because of the list's low turnover. Who, after all, would miss a few poets? But lowish sales were a reflection of the OUP's lack of commitment as much as anything (though not that of its respected part-time poetry editor, Jacqueline Simms). Many of the OUP's poets - names like Fleur Adcock, D J Enright, Jo Shapcott and Peter Porter - may have little difficulty finding another publisher but that's not the point. As Ms Shapcott noted, if Manchester United were to close down, its players would find other jobs - but there would be one less place for budding recruits to make their way.
Poetry's status as the new rock 'n' roll may have been exaggerated. Poetry books rarely become best sellers apart from a Heaney, a Hughes or the admirable Poems on the Underground. But people are reading, writing or listening to poems - whether in their newspapers, pubs, festivals or on the radio - in increasing numbers. Poetry is a creative artery that needs constant stimulation. If Oxford can only see it as something that McKinseys need to do market testing on, rather than part of the idea of a university, then something will have gone that may never come back. A thing of beauty is a joy forever, even when there is a little red ink on the bottom line.
Go to the next item in Oxford's poetry fiasco.