Peter McDonald
@pmcdthisandthat.bsky.social
Poet, translator, critic, editor.
This is what happens when you let WB Yeats go to the country and play with Ezra Pound. Awkward.
February 12, 2026 at 12:07 PM
This is what happens when you let WB Yeats go to the country and play with Ezra Pound. Awkward.
Yeats on Synge, 1909. Astonishingly powerful.
February 10, 2026 at 5:33 PM
Yeats on Synge, 1909. Astonishingly powerful.
Lucinda Williams in London tonight: majestic, magnificent.
February 3, 2026 at 11:24 PM
Lucinda Williams in London tonight: majestic, magnificent.
Michael Longley, 2020.
January 27, 2026 at 8:51 AM
Michael Longley, 2020.
Ezra Pound, 1914.
January 19, 2026 at 12:08 PM
Ezra Pound, 1914.
Ezra Pound, 1913.
“Beautiful” last-gasping, but on life support from “ugly”.
“Beautiful” last-gasping, but on life support from “ugly”.
January 19, 2026 at 11:55 AM
Ezra Pound, 1913.
“Beautiful” last-gasping, but on life support from “ugly”.
“Beautiful” last-gasping, but on life support from “ugly”.
Not just timely by any means, but timely all the same: John Jay Chapman (1862-1933) on “The President’s Dictatorship”. As quoted in Christopher Ricks’s splendid chapter on Chapman in his book Along Heroic Lines (2021).
January 6, 2026 at 9:44 AM
Not just timely by any means, but timely all the same: John Jay Chapman (1862-1933) on “The President’s Dictatorship”. As quoted in Christopher Ricks’s splendid chapter on Chapman in his book Along Heroic Lines (2021).
George Herbert.
December 8, 2025 at 11:01 AM
George Herbert.
Marianne Moore, 1964
December 5, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Marianne Moore, 1964
Gerard Hopkins, 1864.
“Overloaded, apparently “ he recorded after it in his notebook.
What a strange poet he was, even early on.
“Overloaded, apparently “ he recorded after it in his notebook.
What a strange poet he was, even early on.
December 4, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Gerard Hopkins, 1864.
“Overloaded, apparently “ he recorded after it in his notebook.
What a strange poet he was, even early on.
“Overloaded, apparently “ he recorded after it in his notebook.
What a strange poet he was, even early on.
Thom Gunn, 1961.
November 28, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Thom Gunn, 1961.
Theodore Roethke, 1948
November 18, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Theodore Roethke, 1948
Michael Longley, 1979
November 9, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Michael Longley, 1979
T.S. Eliot, 1942. There’s a lot to be said for this, and about this.
November 6, 2025 at 10:54 AM
T.S. Eliot, 1942. There’s a lot to be said for this, and about this.
Michael Longley (1985)
October 31, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Michael Longley (1985)
Louis MacNeice, December 1942
October 23, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Louis MacNeice, December 1942
Reposted by Peter McDonald
Join us for the latest episode of Yeats Conversations, in which Dr. Rob Doggett and Dr. Peter McDonald discuss the poem "September 1913."
Help keep Yeats scholarship freely accessible to all by donating to our fundraiser today! -> donate.stripe.com/00gaGU0246YB...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZuQ...
Help keep Yeats scholarship freely accessible to all by donating to our fundraiser today! -> donate.stripe.com/00gaGU0246YB...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZuQ...
"September 1913" (with Peter McDonald)
YouTube video by DrRobDoggett
www.youtube.com
October 20, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Join us for the latest episode of Yeats Conversations, in which Dr. Rob Doggett and Dr. Peter McDonald discuss the poem "September 1913."
Help keep Yeats scholarship freely accessible to all by donating to our fundraiser today! -> donate.stripe.com/00gaGU0246YB...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZuQ...
Help keep Yeats scholarship freely accessible to all by donating to our fundraiser today! -> donate.stripe.com/00gaGU0246YB...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZuQ...
Geoffrey Hill, epigraph page to 1998 edn of The Triumph Of Love.
The ultimate out of office message.
The ultimate out of office message.
October 18, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Geoffrey Hill, epigraph page to 1998 edn of The Triumph Of Love.
The ultimate out of office message.
The ultimate out of office message.
From Geoffrey Hill’s The Triumph Of Love (1998).
October 13, 2025 at 9:13 AM
From Geoffrey Hill’s The Triumph Of Love (1998).
Louis MacNeice, on this National Poetry Day. I like this, though from what I can see it must strike many poetry-lovers these days as a kind of heresy. What a nasty man! (Well, of course he’s a man etc etc - write the rest of the outrage yourself…)
October 2, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Louis MacNeice, on this National Poetry Day. I like this, though from what I can see it must strike many poetry-lovers these days as a kind of heresy. What a nasty man! (Well, of course he’s a man etc etc - write the rest of the outrage yourself…)
Two years today since I quit the job I’d had for nearly a quarter of a century. I miss the students (with a small ‘s’), but little else, and am in many ways busier than ever. This poem partly explains why I had no appetite for being the Irish mud on such distinguished English boots.
September 30, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Two years today since I quit the job I’d had for nearly a quarter of a century. I miss the students (with a small ‘s’), but little else, and am in many ways busier than ever. This poem partly explains why I had no appetite for being the Irish mud on such distinguished English boots.
Sorry to learn of Tony Harrison’s death. Important in his own right, he was also one of the very few modern poets able to turn Greek poetry into poetry in English. His Oresteia (1981) is a permanent achievement: ktema es aei.
September 27, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Sorry to learn of Tony Harrison’s death. Important in his own right, he was also one of the very few modern poets able to turn Greek poetry into poetry in English. His Oresteia (1981) is a permanent achievement: ktema es aei.
Reposted by Peter McDonald
Great to see Peter McDonald's 'Solitude' (One Little Room, Carcanet, 2024) as poem of the week in the Guardian this week!
To read 'Solitude':
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...
To browse One Little Room:
www.carcanet.co.uk/978180017449...
To read 'Solitude':
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...
To browse One Little Room:
www.carcanet.co.uk/978180017449...
Poem of the week: Solitude by Peter McDonald
A wounded bird becomes an image for much wider damage to our world
www.theguardian.com
September 2, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Great to see Peter McDonald's 'Solitude' (One Little Room, Carcanet, 2024) as poem of the week in the Guardian this week!
To read 'Solitude':
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...
To browse One Little Room:
www.carcanet.co.uk/978180017449...
To read 'Solitude':
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...
To browse One Little Room:
www.carcanet.co.uk/978180017449...