Henry Birkhead, Founder of the Oxford Chair of Poetry (1617-1697). Poetry and the Redemption of History

The Oxford Chair of Poetry has been a unique focus for the scholarly, poetical and critical interpretation of poetry, only briefly interrupted twice by world war, since the first professor was appointed in 1708. Its donor, Henry Birkhead, was a well-known Oxford scholar and poet. The story of his life is told here for the first time, largely from original sources. His writings relate to his over-riding preoccupation with scholarship and the ways in which he reacted to the times into which he was born, seeing in poetry a living force preserving the ideals not only of his youth but of a more gracious and spiritual world.