Louis MacNeice

Louis MacNeice was born on September 12, 1907 in Belfast, Ireland. He was educated at Oxford University, studying classics and philosophy. He lectured in classics at Birmingham University Bedford College for Women, University of London. In 1941, he joined the British Broadcasting Company as a staff writer and producer, finding an audience for his poetry and plays through radio.

MacNeice became involved with a group of politically committed left-wing poets and writers , including Stephen Spender, W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood.

Although he chose to live the majority of his adult life in London, MacNeice frequently returned to the landscapes of his childhood, and he took pride in his Irish heritage. His poetry is characterized by its familiar, sometimes humorous tone and its integration of contemporary ideas and images.

Louis MacNeice died on September 3, 1963, just before the publication of his last book of poems, The Burning Perch. He was 55 years old.