5

Kenneth Muir (1907–1996) was an eminent and very productive Shakespeare scholar. Wikipedia has a short article about him that leaves out many lesser-known facts:

  • he directed a number of plays, including Troilus and Cressida (which he also edited for the Oxford Shakespeare);
  • he translated at least one of Racine's plays;
  • in the 1930s, he knew poets such as Stephen Spender and W. H. Auden,
  • in 1933, Oxford University Press published a volume of his poems: The Nettle and the Flower (which contained a poem dedicated to W. H. Auden),
  • he later published hundreds of poems in magazines.

In spite of the research I have done, I have not been able to find an edition or even an anthology of Kenneth Muir's poetry. In the absence of that, has anybody ever compiled a bibliography listing his poems?

Improve this question
1
  • 2
    A note to anyone researching this question: make sure you get the right Kenneth Muir (there's more than one notable person with this name even in the world of literature), and beware of collections which were merely edited by KM rather than written by him.
    – Rand al'Thor ♦
    Commented Jan 12, 2018 at 0:53

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

According to this article ("Kenneth Muir", Proceedings of the British Academy 97 (1998), pp. 393–409):

There is a selective bibliography of Kenneth Muir’s writings, 1937–79, in the book of essays in his honour, Shakespeare’s Styles, ed. Philip Edwards, Inga-Stina Ewbank, and G. K. Hunter (Cambridge, 1980). A more comprehensive bibliography will appear in his Autobiography, forthcoming from Liverpool University Press.

I found the book Shakespeare's Styles: Essays in honour of Kenneth Muir on Google Books, but there's no preview so that I can check the bibliography. His autobiography is even harder to track down - Google seems to have no record of it.

OK, this is only a signpost to a signpost, but it's the best I've been able to find in the way of a bibliography. Muir's poems don't seem to have been put together in any anthology or collection. I've even searched the online catalogue of one of the UK legal deposit libraries, without success.

Improve this answer
2
  • Thanks for the link to the article, which I didn't know. (Blame it on too many "John Kenneth Muir" search engine hits.) I suspect that the autobiography was never published in the end; I'll contact Liverpool Uni Press. And I'll see if I can get hold of a copy of Shakespeare's Styles, even though the bibliography may focus on Muir's academic work.
    – Tsundoku
    Commented Jan 11, 2018 at 13:51
  • According to this tweet, Liverpool University Press hasn't published Muir's autobiography.
    – Tsundoku
    Commented Jan 11, 2018 at 19:09

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.