George MacBeth

George MacBeth (1932-1992) in the 1980s. Courtesy Old Edwardians.

George Mann MacBeth (19 January 1932 - 16 February 1992) was a Scottish poet and novelist.

Life

Youth and education

MacBeth was born in Shotts, Lanarkshire. When he was 3, his family moved to Sheffield.

He was educated in Sheffield at King Edward VII School, where he was Head Prefect in 1951, before going up to New College, Oxford, with an Open Scholarship in Classics.

He graduated in 1955 from the University of Oxford.

Career

After graduating, he worked at BBC Radio as a producer of programmes on poetry, notably for the BBC Third Programme, until 1976. He was a member of The Group.

He resigned from the BBC to take up novel writing; he introduced a series of thrillers involving the spy, Cadbury. In his later post-BBC years, after divorcing his 1st wife, he married novelist Lisa St Aubin de Terán, by whom he had a child, Alexander Morton George MacBeth, and after an acrimonious divorce, moved with his new wife, Penny, to Ireland to live in Tuam, County Galway.

A few months later, George MacBeth was diagnosed as suffering from motor neurone disease, of which he died in early 1992. In the last poetry he wrote, MacBeth provides an anatomy of a cruel disease and the destruction it caused 2 people deeply in love. Penny and George had 2 children.

He died in Tuam, co. Galway, Ireland.

Recognition

Poems from Oby (1982) was a Choice of the Poetry Book Society (Oby is a Norfolk village).

He received a Geoffrey Faber Memorial Award for his work.

Publications

Poetry

• A Form of Words. Eynsham, Oxford, UK: Fantasy Press, 1954.
• Lecture to the Trainees: Poems. Oxford, UK: Fantasy Press, 1962.
• The Broken Places: Poems. Lowestoft, Suffolk, UK: Scorpion Press, 1963; New York: Walker, 1968.
• Penguin Modern Poets 6 (by Jack Clemo, Edward Lucie-Smith, & George MacBeth). Harmondsworth, UK, & Baltimore, MD: Penguin, 1964.
• The Calf (broadside). London: Turret Books, 1965.
• The Doomsday Book: Poems and poem-games. Lowestoft, Suffolk, UK: Scorpion Press, 1965.
• Missile Commander. London: Turret Books, 1965.
• The Twelve Hotels. London: Turret Books, 1965.
• The Colour of Blood: Poems. London: Macmillan, 1967; New York: Atheneum, 1967.
• The Screens. London: Turret Books, 1967.
• The Night of Stones: Poems. London: Macmillan, 1968; New York: Antheneum, 1969.
• A Death: A Poem. Frensham, Hampshire, UK: Sceptre Press, 1969.
• A War Quartet. London: Macmillan, 1969.
• The Bamboo Nightingale (broadside). Farnham, Surrey, UK: Sceptre Press, 1970.
• The Burning Cone. London: Macmillian, 1970.
• The Hiroshima Dream. London: Academy Editions, 1970.
• Poems. Farnham, Surrey, UK: Sceptre Press, 1970.
• Snow Leopard (broadside). Santa Barbara, CA: Unicorn Press, 1970.
• Two Poems. Farnham, Surrey, UK: Sceptre Press, 1970.
• Free Form Poetry (by MacBeth and Bob Cobbing). London: Writers Forum, [1970?]
• Free Form Poetry Two (by MacBeth, Dom Sylvester Houédard, & Bob Cobbing). London: Writers Forum, 1971.
• The Orlando Poems. London: Macmillan, 1971.
• Collected Poems, 1958–1970. London: Macmillan, 1971; New York: Atheneum, 1971.
• A Prayer, Against Revenge. Rusden, Northants, UK: Sceptre Press, 1971.
• A Farewell. Rushden, Northantsm UK: Sceptre Press, 1972.
• A Litany. Rushden, Northants, UK: Sceptre Press, 1972.
• A Poet's Year. London: Gollancz, 1973.
• The Vision. Rushden, Northants, UK: Sceptre Press, 1973.
• Elegy for the Gas Dowsers. Knotting, Bedfordshire, UK: Sceptre Press, 1974.
• The Journey to the Island. Knotting, Bedfordshire, UK: Sceptre Press, 1975.
• Poem for Breathing. Knotting, Bedfordshire, UK: Sceptre Press, 1979.
• Lusus: A verse lecture. London: Fuller d'Arch Smith, 1972.
• Shrapnel: Poems. London: Macmillan, 1973.
• Prayers. Shirley, Solihull, UK: Aquila, 1973.
• In the Hours Waiting for the Blood to Come. London: Gollancz, 1975.
• Last Night. Knotting, Bedfordshire, UK: Sceptre Press, 1976.
• The Saddled Man: A poem (illustrated by Katherine Kadish). Richmond, Surrey, UK: Keepsake Press, 1978.
• Buying a Heart (illustrated by Robin Lawrie). London: Omphalos Press, 1978; New York: Atheneum, 1978.
• Poems of Love and Death. London: Secker & Warburg, 1980.
• Typing a Novel About the War. Knotting, Bedfordshire, UK: Martin Booth, 1980.
• Poems for Oby. London: Secker & Warburg, 1982; New York: Atheneum, 1983.
• The Long Darkness. London: Secker & Warburg, 1983.
• The Cleaver Garden. London: Secker & Warburg, 1986.
• Anatomy of Divorce: Poems. London: Hutchinson, 1988.
• Collected Poems, 1958-1982. London: Hutchinson, 1989.
• Trespassing: Poems from Ireland. London: Hutchinson, 1991.
• The Patient. London: Hutchinson, 1992.
• Selected Poems (edited by Anthony Thwaite). London: Enitharmon Press, 2002.

Plays

• The Hummingbirds: A monodrama (designed by Brian J. Boyle). London: Distributed by Turret Books, 1965. "Reprinted by kind permission of the Royal College of Art from the Journal Arc, 38 (summer 1965)"
• Scene-Machine: A Message for the times: An opera in one act, by Anthony Gilbert (libretto by MacBeth). London: Schott, 1971.

Novels

• The Transformation. London: Gollancz, 1975.
• The Samurai. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975; London: Quartet Books, 1976.
• The Survivor. London: Quartet Books, 1977; New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1978.
• The Seven Witches. London: W.H. Allen, 1978; New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978.
• A Kind of Treason: A novel based on the war diaries of John Beeby. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1981.
  • published in U.S. as The Katana: A novel based on the war diaries of John Beeby. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982.
• Anna's Book. London: Cape, 1983; New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, 1983.
• The Lion of Pescara. London: Cape, 1984.
• Dizzy's Woman. London: Cape, 1986.
• Another Love Story. London: Bloomsbury, 1991.
• The Testament of Spencer. London: Andre Deutsch, 1992.

Non-fiction

• An Interview with Ted Berrigan. London: Ignu Publications, 1971.
• My Scotland: Fragments of a state of mind. London: Macmillan, 1973.
• A Child of the War (autobiography). London: Cape, 1987.

Juvenile

• Noah's Journey (illustrated by Margaret Gordon). London: Macmillan, 1966; New York: Viking, 1966.
• Jonah and the Lord (illustrated by Margaret Gordon). London: Macmillan, 1969; New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, 1970.
• The Rectory Mice (illustrated by Douglas Hall). London: Hutchinson, 1982.
• The Story of Daniel (illustrated by Pauline Baynes). Cambridge, UK: Lutterworth, 1986.

Edited

• Jonathan Price (edited by MacBeth & Oscar Mellor). Eynsham, Oxfordshire, UK: Fantasy Press (Fantasy Poets #20), 1954.
• Penguin Book of Sick Verse. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1963; Baltimore, MD: Penguin, 1965.
• Penguin Book of Animal Verse. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1965.
• Poetry 1900 to 1965. London: Longman / Faber, 1967.
• Penguin Book of Victorian Verse: A critical anthology. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1969.
• Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Falling Splendour: Poems. London: Macmillan, 1970.
• The Book of Cats (edited with Martin Booth). London: Secker & Warburg, 1976; New York: Morrow, 1977.
• *Poetry, 1900-1975. Harlow, UK: Longman / London: Faber, 1979.
• Poetry for Today. Harlow, UK: Longman, 1984.

31. Bedtime Story by George Macbeth

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy Old Edwardians.

See also

• List of British poets

References

• Book Rags

External links

Poems

• Poem of the Week: "The God of Love" at The Guardian

Books

IGeorge MacBeth at Amazon.com

About

• George MacBeth 1932-1992 at the Poetry Foundation
• George MacBeth at Old Edwardians
• "Bedtime Story" analysis at Encyclopedia.com