Peter McDonald
@pmcdthisandthat.bsky.social
Poet, translator, critic, editor.
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...
Louis MacNeice, looking down into the grave at Dylan Thomas’s burial service, 1953.
August 25, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Louis MacNeice, looking down into the grave at Dylan Thomas’s burial service, 1953.
Vol 3 of my Yeats edition will be in (relatively) affordable paperback next month.
The Poems of W.B. Yeats: Volume Three: 1899-1910
In this multi-volume edition, the poetry of W.B. Yeats (1865–1939) is presented in full, with newly established texts and detailed, wide-ranging commentary. Yeats began to write verse in the nineteent...
www.routledge.com
August 24, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Vol 3 of my Yeats edition will be in (relatively) affordable paperback next month.
What being a poet might sometimes mean. Louis MacNeice, from ‘Visitations’ VI (1957).
July 10, 2025 at 8:39 AM
What being a poet might sometimes mean. Louis MacNeice, from ‘Visitations’ VI (1957).
Last snap of Pebbles for now. Beautiful friend, still missed after nearly two years.
July 4, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Last snap of Pebbles for now. Beautiful friend, still missed after nearly two years.
“As for poodles, don’t even get me started.”
July 4, 2025 at 8:43 AM
“As for poodles, don’t even get me started.”
“Look, just get on and take the picture. I have places to be.”
July 4, 2025 at 8:41 AM
“Look, just get on and take the picture. I have places to be.”
“So I like to sit in bags. Have you a problem with that?”
July 4, 2025 at 8:40 AM
“So I like to sit in bags. Have you a problem with that?”
“Either the bear goes, or I do.”
July 4, 2025 at 8:38 AM
“Either the bear goes, or I do.”
I miss Pebbles, and her healthy self regard.
July 4, 2025 at 8:36 AM
I miss Pebbles, and her healthy self regard.
Reposted by Peter McDonald
Back on the ‘stack after a while. Please give it a read and subscribe!
open.substack.com/pub/thefilmp...
open.substack.com/pub/thefilmp...
Five films for philosophy students (spoiler free)
Some films to watch instead of (or as well as) reading yet another philosophy article on JSTOR
open.substack.com
June 23, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Back on the ‘stack after a while. Please give it a read and subscribe!
open.substack.com/pub/thefilmp...
open.substack.com/pub/thefilmp...
Reposted by Peter McDonald
You can now watch the online launch held for One Little Room by Peter McDonald, hosted by Tim Kendall: www.youtube.com/watch
Peter McDonald One Little Room Book Launch
The recording of the online book launch held for One Little Room by Peter McDonald, hosted by Tim Kendall on 4th December 2024. Find out more info and buy the book here: https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781800174498/one-little-room/ Carcanet Press is supported by Arts Council England. Please consider donating to support our future work: https://www.paypal.me/carcanet Edited by Pixel Assist www.pixelassist.co.uk
www.youtube.com
June 11, 2025 at 12:00 PM
You can now watch the online launch held for One Little Room by Peter McDonald, hosted by Tim Kendall: www.youtube.com/watch
Derek Mahon, 1981.
What a poem. I remember reading it when I was 19, and thinking “Well, that’s what perfection looks like. There’s nothing left for me to say”. I think I might have been right!
What a poem. I remember reading it when I was 19, and thinking “Well, that’s what perfection looks like. There’s nothing left for me to say”. I think I might have been right!
June 3, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Derek Mahon, 1981.
What a poem. I remember reading it when I was 19, and thinking “Well, that’s what perfection looks like. There’s nothing left for me to say”. I think I might have been right!
What a poem. I remember reading it when I was 19, and thinking “Well, that’s what perfection looks like. There’s nothing left for me to say”. I think I might have been right!