Porter, Peter (1929-2010), was a major Australian-born English poet. Readers and critics have praised Porter’s poems for their dry wit, sophistication, and technical brilliance. In one of his poems, Porter wrote that poetry “begs outside the gates/of the gods: The active gods come out.” His collection The Automatic Oracle (1987) won the 1988 Whitbread (now Costa) Poetry Award, a major British literary prize. Porter was also an important editor and translator.
Peter Neville Frederick Porter was born on Feb. 16, 1929, in Brisbane. He settled permanently in England in 1951. Porter worked as a bookseller and in advertising before becoming a full-time writer and broadcaster.
Porter’s first published collection of poems was Once Bitten, Twice Bitten (1961). His early verse created a satirical portrait of “swinging” London society during the 1960’s. Porter’s later poetry became more somber, reflective, and complex. Death was a frequent theme. He often used obscure references to art, opera, and mythology. Porter’s collections The Cost of Seriousness (1978) and English Subtitles (1981) deal with a poet’s conflicting responsibilities to his work and to other people. A two-volume collection of Porter’s poetry from 1961 to 1999 was published as Collected Poems (1999). His collections in the 2000’s include Max Is Missing (2001), Afterburner (2004), and Better Than God (2009).
Porter was the editor or coeditor of several anthologies of poetry, including The Faber Book of Modern Verse (1982), The Fate of Vultures: New Poetry of Africa (1989), and The Oxford Book of Modern Australian Verse (1996). Porter also edited many collections by individual poets. He translated poetry by classical Greek poets and the poetry and letters of the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo. Porter’s essays on poetry were published in Saving from the Wreck (2001). He also wrote words for operas and a song cycle. Porter died on April 23, 2010.
