Violent face?

The title reads almost like a circus announcement, and the first half of the article makes us wonder a bit about the critic's implied superiority to poets such as Ben Jonson and Paul Verlaine (but after all, as Huck Finn once said, "I don't take no stock in dead people"). The second half of the article reveals a few useful facts:

- If Geoffrey Hill is elected as the Oxford Professor of Poetry he will receive a £7,000 annual stipend. (If he's interested, he might be able to purchase a raft for the Mississippi River?—Or better yet the Cherwell or the Thames).

- 300,000 Oxford graduates will have a chance to vote for the candidates by internet, over a three-week period that comes to an end, in timely fashion, on June 18.

If Jim were to perform a little voodoo on this question, my guess is that he'd forcast that GH will win. Give this a look:

- Cahal Milmo, "Is this the violent new face of poetry at Oxford? Writer famed for brutality of his verse nominated for prestigious professorship," Independent (March 25, 2010).

- Nicola Woolcock, "Geoffrey Hill nominated Professor of Poetry at Oxford after scandal," Times (March 25, 2010).

- Geoffrey Hill Exchange (Facebook).

- Stephen Moss, "My bid for Oxford poetry glory," Guardian (February 22, 2010).

- Alison Flood, "Contest for Oxford poetry professor begins again," Guardian (February 18, 2010).

- Dave Itzkoff, "After a Cruelest Month, Oxford Resumes Search for Poetry Professor, Arts Beat, Blog, New York Times (February 18, 2010).