Skip to Main Content
Boston University
  • Bostonia
  • BU Today
  • The Brink
  • University Publications

    • Bostonia
    • BU Today
    • The Brink
  • School & College Publications

    • The Record
Other Publications
BU Today
  • Sections
News, Opinion, Community

UNI and CAS professor Geoffrey Hill to retire

Legendary poet and literary scholar leaves "indelible" legacy"

June 28, 2006
  • Brian Fitzgerald
Twitter Facebook
Geoffrey Hill has taught at BU for 18 years. Photo by Kalman Zabarsky

“Let us make one thing clear: Geoffrey Hill is the greatest living poet in the English language,” writes Nicholas Lezard, a critic for the British newspaper The Guardian.

Such superlatives about Hill, who will retire on August 31 after teaching at BU for 18 years, aren’t limited to one reviewer. Literary scholar Harold Bloom calls Hill “the strongest British poet now alive.” A. N. Wilson, a critic for The Spectator, writes, “There is no one alive writing in our language about deeper or more important matters.”

Upon his retirement, Hill will become a University Professor emeritus and a College of Arts and Sciences professor emeritus of literature and religion. With a dozen volumes of poetry to his name, he has also published three books of criticism: The Lords of Limit: Essays on Literature and Ideas (1984), The Enemy’s Country: Words, Contexture, and Other Circumstances of Language (1991), and Style and Faith  (2003).
    
But it his poetry that has earned him numerous awards, including the 1983 Loines Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters; the T. S. Eliot Award for Creative Writing and the Heinemann Book Award for Triumph of Love (1998); and BU’s Kahn Award for Canaan (1997). He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996.

Hill’s retirement comes on the heels of his latest poetry collection, Without Title, which is also wowing the critics. “This poetry makes few concessions,” writes Michael Schmidt of The Independent. “It uses every stop and pedal on the organ, and it is musically assured and resonant. When he wants to, he can make the building shake.”

According to Bruce Redford, a UNI professor and the program’s director, Hill will be remembered at BU as much for his teaching as for his skill at creating powerful verse. “Geoffrey Hill’s poetry has been aptly described as ‘at once austere and passionate,’” Redford says. “The same could be said for his contributions as teacher and colleague. Professor Hill taught with the dedication and eloquence of an Old Testament prophet, inspiring his students through his fervent commitment to such writers as [George] Herbert and [Gerard Manley] Hopkins and such topics as [his course] Voice and Otherness. Like T. S. Eliot, with whom he has aptly been compared, Hill combines a visionary sensibility with an unswerving commitment to the craft of language. He demonstrates this commitment in his own poetry and prose, in his scrupulous attention to the writing of his students, and in his multifaceted involvement with BU’s Editorial Institute.”

Hill cofounded the Editorial Institute in 1999 with literary critic Christopher Ricks, BU’s William M. and Sara B. Warren Professor of the Humanities and the course coordinator of the CAS Core Curriculum. He served as codirector until 2004.

His recent volumes of poetry, aside from Triumph of Love and Canaan, include Speech! Speech! and The Orchards of Syon [2002).

Writing poetry “is a hobby that’s got out of hand,” said Hill in a 1998 interview with the B.U. Bridge newspaper. “In my University work, I am a straight-down-the-middle literary scholar. My job is teaching 16th- and 17th-century literature, in relation to religion and politics.” According to former student Jennifer Page (UNI’06), Hill “is just as much a teacher who is a poet as he is a poet who is a teacher; his aim is identical in both capacities.”

At an event last April titled A Life in Poetry: An Evening with Geoffrey Hill, he read from texts he has enjoyed teaching during his BU career. To listen to the program, click here.

A native of Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, Hill is an honorary fellow of Keble College, Oxford; an honorary fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge; and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

 “To the faculty of the University Professors Program he brought a powerful mind, an eloquent voice, and a searching conscience,” Redford said. “His legacy is indelible.”

Explore Related Topics:

  • Faculty
  • Literature
  • Poetry
  • Share this story

Share

UNI and CAS professor Geoffrey Hill to retire

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • Brian Fitzgerald

    Brian Fitzgerald Profile

Latest from BU Today

  • University News

    Adnan Hyder, Scholar Dedicated to Improving Health Policies for Low- and Medium-Income Nations, Named Dean of Boston University’s School of Public Health

  • Watch Now

    The Stories Behind These Eye-Catching Sculptures at BU and Beyond

  • Student Life

    BU Paris Students Deliver Hospitality Research to the Palace of Versailles

  • University News

    Elise Morgan Named BU College of Engineering Dean

  • Public Health

    Grilled Meats Can Be Carcinogenic. BU Health Researcher’s Tips on Preparing Them More Safely

  • Things-to-do

    See a Concert Under the Stars with the Longwood Symphony Orchestra, Featuring BU Faculty

  • Watch Now

    BU, but Make It Emoji

  • NATIONAL ICE CREAM DAY

    How to Celebrate National Ice Cream Day

  • Health & Medicine

    Why Is Everyone So Obsessed with Protein? BU Nutrition Expert Has Some Answers

  • Sports

    BU Table Tennis Player Headed to World Championships in Germany

  • Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

    Americans Are Buying More European Sunscreens. Are They Better Than Domestic Ones?

  • Film & TV

    Did You Win Starbucks Gift Cards in Our Superman Trivia Quiz?

  • Social Media

    A Viral Marriage Proposal Raises Privacy Questions in the Social Media Age

  • Things-to-do

    Our List of Outdoor Concerts to Enjoy This Summer

  • Arts & Culture

    This CFA Student Is Using Art to Help Medical Patients

  • Film & TV

    Why Do We Keep Watching Reality Dating Shows?

  • University News

    Boston University Announces Budget Cuts, Layoffs Amid Financial Pressures

  • Social Media

    COM Class Teaches Students How to Promote Their Content Online

  • Things-to-do

    How to Spend the July Fourth Weekend in Boston

  • Things-to-do

    Best Places to Watch Fireworks in Boston This Fourth of July

Section navigation

  • Sections
  • Must Reads
  • Videos
  • Series
  • Close-ups
  • Archives
  • About + Contact
Get Our Email

Explore Our Publications

Bostonia

Boston University’s Alumni Magazine

BU Today

News, Opinion, Community

The Brink

Pioneering Research from Boston University

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • Weibo
  • TikTok
© Boston University. All rights reserved. www.bu.edu
© 2025 Trustees of Boston UniversityPrivacy StatementAccessibility
Boston University
Notice of Non-Discrimination: Boston University prohibits discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, color, natural or protective hairstyle, religion, sex or gender, age, national origin, ethnicity, shared ancestry and ethnic characteristics, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition, military service, marital, parental, veteran status, or any other legally protected status in any and all educational programs or activities operated by Boston University. Retaliation is also prohibited. Please refer questions or concerns about Title IX, discrimination based on any other status protected by law or BU policy, or retaliation to Boston University’s Executive Director of Equal Opportunity/Title IX Coordinator, at titleix@bu.edu or (617) 358-1796. Read Boston University’s full Notice of Nondiscrimination.
Search
Boston University Masterplate
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
UNI and CAS professor Geoffrey Hill to retire
0
share this