• OXFORD UNIVERSITY POETRY SOCIETY

    The Oxford University Poetry Society aims to be the centre of poetic life within the University of Oxford. Established in 1946, OUPS is one of the oldest and most active student poetry societies in the UK, making Oxford a wonderful place for aspiring poets and poetry lovers.

     

    After a brief dormant period, the Oxford Poetry Society is back and better than ever! In previous years the society has welcomed the likes of Sarah Howe, Don Paterson, Bernard O'Donoghue, Michael Longley, Alice Oswald, Andrew McMillan, Jack Underwood, Kei Miller, Vahni Capildeo, and Mary Jean Chan at events. With things resuming after the pandemic, we are gearing up to have a great, poetry-filled 2023. We have workshops, socials, poetry readings, open-mics, competitions, and collaborations with other societies in the works, so come along to as many events as you can.

     

    Make sure you sign up to our mailing list, and contact us if you have any questions!

  • Trinity 2023 Termcard

    Sign up to our mailing list for further additions. All events are open to the public.

    More updates will be coming soon!

     

     

  • A Brief History of Oxford Poetry

    It’s difficult to walk around Oxford without thinking about all the iconic writers who once walked its streets as students: John Donne and Philip Sidney, Shelley and Oscar Wilde, Hopkins and Arnold, Betjeman and Larkin, Auden and Eliot, Graves and Wendy Cope, and, more recently, Alice Oswald and Michael Symmons Roberts. Oxford has always inspired poetry and pushed poetry forward, and OUPS hopes to be a space in which the same can happen today.

     

    OUPS itself has a long history, dating back to 1946, when it was founded by Martin Starkie. Its past presidents have included Caroline Bird and Vidyan Ravinthiran. We have a long tradition of hosting acclaimed writers, such as Ted Hughes, Dylan Thomas and, more recently, Paul Muldoon, Daljit Nagra, Alice Oswald, Andrew Motion and many others. Another Oxford tradition going back to 1708 is the Professorship of Poetry, currently held by Alice Oswald. In the past it has included WH Auden, Robert Graves, Matthew Arnold, Paul Muldoon, Seamus Heaney, and Geoffrey Hill. There are many practising poets teaching at Oxford University, too, such as Bernard O Donoghue, Peter McDonald, Jane Griffiths, Hannah Sullivan, and Jane Draycott.

  • Committee (2022-2023)

     

    Aliyah Begum, Co-President

    Aliyah is a second year studying English Literature at Worcester College. Commended in numerous National Young Poet Network challenges, as well as the Foyle Young Poet of the Year Award 2017, Aliyah was the Birmingham Young Poet Laureate from 2018 to 2020. She read her poem 'Walking to the Train Station' at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference.

     

    Aliyah also acts as the VP and treasurer for Worcester College.

    Em Power, Co-President

    Em is a second year reading English Literature at St. Peter's College. She is a three-time winner of the Foyle Young Poet award and the winner of the 2020 Lancaster Writing Award, alongside being shortlisted for the Tower Poetry Prize and Forward Creative Critics Competition. Her work has been published in The Isis and read on BBC Four's Front Row.

     

    Her favourite poets are Phoebe Stuckes and Danez Smith. She is a big fan of the television show Succession.

     

    Eliza Browning, Co-President

    Eliza Browning is a master's student studying for the Mst English 1900-Present at St Hugh's College. Her writing has appeared in The Adroit Journal, Isis, Salamander Mag, and the 2022 Mays Anthology, among others.

     

    Her master's dissertation focuses on the haunted landscape and ghostly figure in the war poetry of T.S. Eliot and W.H. Auden, and she is interested in modernist poetry, experimental form, and the intersection of poetry and art. She enjoys both writing and editing poetry and encouraging emerging writers.

     

    When not reading or writing, Eliza can be found oil painting, collecting vinyl records, going on long walks, sewing and cooking with friends.

    Hebe Yu,

    Secretary and Social Media Manager

     

  • Gallery 

    A collection of photos from past events hosted by OUPS.

  • Social Media

    Stay updated by liking our official Facebook page or emailing us with any questions you might have.

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