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''''Paul Muldoon''' (born 20 June 1951) is a [[Pulitzer Prize]]-winning [[poetry|poet]] from [[County Armagh]], [[Northern Ireland]] as well as an educator and academic at [[Princeton University]]. ==Life and work== Muldoon's poetry is known for his difficult, sly, allusive style, casual use of obscure or archaic words, understated wit, [[pun]]ning, and deft technique in meter and [[half rhyme|slant rhyme]]. <ref>{{cite book| last=Wills| first=Clair| title=Reading Paul Muldoon| location=Newcastle Upon Tyne| publisher=Bloodaxe Books| year=1998| pp=9| isbn=1852243481}}</ref> Muldoon has lived in the United States since 1987; he teaches at [[Princeton University]] and is an Honorary Professor in the School of English at the [[University of St Andrews]]. He held the chair of [[Professor of Poetry]] at [[Oxford University]] for the five-year term 1999–2004, and he is an Honorary Fellow of [[Hertford College, Oxford|Hertford College, Oxford University]]. In addition, he teaches in Vermont at [[Middlebury College#The Bread Loaf School of English|The Bread Loaf School of English]], Middlebury College's graduate program. Muldoon's work has usually been overshadowed by that of his friend and mentor, [[Seamus Heaney]]. Heaney, who won the 1995 [[Nobel Prize in Literature]], is better known and has enjoyed more popular success, while Muldoon has been referred to as 'the poet's poet', whose work is frequently too involved for a more casual readership. However, Muldoon's reputation as a serious poet was confirmed in 2003 with his winning of the [[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry]]. He has been awarded such honours as fellowships in the [[Royal Society of Literature]] and the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]; the 1994 [[T. S. Eliot]] Prize; the 1997 [[Irish Times]] Poetry Prize, and the 2003 [[Griffin Poetry Prize|Griffin International Prize for Excellence in Poetry]]. In September 2007 he was hired as poetry editor of [[The New Yorker]]. Muldoon has contributed the librettos for four operas by [[Daron Hagen]]: ''[[Shining Brow]]'' (1992), ''Vera of Las Vegas'' (1996), ''[[Bandanna (opera)|Bandanna]]'' (1998), and ''The Antient Concert'' (2005). His interests have not only included libretto, but the rock lyric as well, penning lines for [[The Handsome Family]] as well as the late [[Warren Zevon]] whose titular track "My Ride's Here" belongs to a Muldoon collaboration. Muldoon also writes lyrics for (and plays "rudimentary rhythm" guitar in) his own Princeton-based rock band, [[RACKETT (band)|Rackett]]. <ref> Val Nolan, ‘Lets go make some noise!’, ''[[The Stinging Fly]]'', Volume 2, Issue 8 (Dublin: Winter 2007/08), pp. 11-13; Feature on Paul Muldoon’s band Rackett, specifically their concert at the Róisín Dubh, Galway, during their 2007 Irish tour. </ref> On June 18th 2009 he appeared as a special guest on 'The Colbert Report'. ==Family== Paul Muldoon is married to the writer Jean Hanff Korelitz. He has two children - Dorothy and Asher - and lives in [[Griggstown, New Jersey]].<ref> [http://www.packetonline.com/articles/2007/12/15/the_princeton_packet/lifestyle/doc474c97359d08e693545914.prt "Making history in Griggstown"], ''[[Princeton Packet]]'', 27 November 2007. Accessed 23 December 2007. "Two presentations by John Allen, president of the Griggstown Historical Society, were made. Mark Alan Hewitt, project architect, received an autographed copy of “Moy Sand & Gravel” by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon, a Griggstown resident."</ref> ==Publications== By 2009, Muldoon's published books (with major collections starred*) were: * ''Knowing My Place'' (1971) * ''New Weather'' (1973)* * ''Spirit of Dawn'' (1975) * ''Mules'' (1977)* * ''Names and Addresses'' (1978) * ''Immram'' (1980) * ''The O-O's Party, New Year's Eve '' (1980) * ''Why Brownlee Left'' (1980)* * ''Out of Siberia'' (1982) * ''Quoof'' (1983)* * ''The Wishbone'' (1984) * ''Paul Muldoon: Selected Poems 1968-1983 '' (1986)* * ''[[Meeting The British (poem)|Meeting the British]]'' (1987)* * ''Madoc: A Mystery'' (1990)* * ''The Annals of Chile'' (1994)* * ''The Prince of the Quotidian'' (1994) * ''Six Honest Serving Men'' (1995) * ''Kerry Slides (with photographs by Bill Doyle)'' (1996) * ''New Selected Poems: 1968-1994'' (1996)* * ''Hopewell Haiku'' (1997) * ''Hay'' (1998)* * ''Poems 1968-1998'' (2001)* * ''Moy Sand and Gravel'' (2002)* (winner of the [[Pulitzer Prize]] for Poetry and the 2003 International [[Griffin Poetry Prize]]) * ''Medley for Morin Khur'' (2005) * ''Sixty Instant Messages to Tom Moore'' (2005) * ''[[Horse Latitudes (book)|Horse Latitudes]]'' (2006)* (shortlisted for the [[TS Eliot Prize]]) * ''General Admission'' (2006) * ''When the Pie was Opened'' (2008) * ''Plan B'' (2009) Most of these volumes were collections of shorter poems. In his principal volumes a pattern that was soon established was the inclusion of a long concluding poem. As Muldoon produced more collections these long poems graffually took up more space in the volume, until in 1990 ''Madoc: A Mystery'' took over the volume of that name, leaving only seven short poems to appear before it. Muldoon has not since published a poem of comparable length, but a new trend is emerging whereby more than one long poem appears in a volume. ''Madoc: A Mystery'' is among Muldoon's most difficult works. The poem narrates, in 233 sections (the same number as the number of American Indian tribes), an alternative history in which [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]] and [[Robert Southey]] come to America in order to found a [[utopian]] community. (The poets had, in reality, discussed but never undertaken this journey; the title comes from Southey's poem ''Madoc'', about a legendary Welsh prince of [[Madoc|that name]].) The poem is complex, including as 'poetry' such non-literary constructions as maps and geometric diagrams. Although some critics have considered it Muldoon's masterpiece{{Fact|date=May 2009}}, others, such as [[John Banville]], have professed themselves baffled.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/muldoonp/madoc.htm|title=Madoc by Paul Muldoon |accessdate=2009-05-27 |publisher=completereview.org |quote= I cannot help feeling that this time (Muldoon) has gone too far -- so far, at least, that I can hardly make him out at all, off there in the distance, dancing by himself.}}</ref> Muldoon has also edited a number of anthologies, written two children's books, translated the work of other authors, and published critical prose. These are, respectively: * ''The Scrake of Dawn: Poems by Young People from Northern Ireland'' (1979) * ''The Faber Book of Contemporary Irish Poetry '' (1986) * ''The Faber Book of Beasts'' (1997) * ''The Oxford and Cambridge May Anthologies 2000: Poetry'' (2000) * ''[[The Best American Poetry 2005]]'' (with David Lehman) (2005) * ''The Last Thesaurus'' (1996) * ''The Noctuary of Narcissus Batt'' (1997) * ''The Astrakhan Cloak'' (translated into English the work written by [[Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill]] in Irish language) (1992) * ''The Birds / adaptation after Aristophanes'' (1999) * ''The End of the Poem: 'All Souls Night' by WB Yeats (lecture)'' (2000) * ''To Ireland, I'' (2000) * ''The End of the Poem: Oxford Lectures in Poetry'' (2006) ==Awards== Muldoon has won the following major poetry awards:<ref>From {{contemporary writers|id=126}}</ref> * 1992: [[Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize]] for ''Madoc: A Mystery'' * 1994: [[T. S. Eliot Prize]] for ''The Annals of Chile'' * 1997: [[Irish Times Irish Literature Prize for Poetry]] for ''New Selected Poems 1968–1994'' * 2002: [[T. S. Eliot Prize]] (shortlist) for ''Moy Sand and Gravel'' * 2003: [[Griffin Poetry Prize]] (Canada) for ''Moy Sand and Gravel'' * 2003: [[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry]] for ''Moy Sand and Gravel'' * 2004: [[American Ireland Fund Literary Award]] * 2004: [[Aspen Prize for Poetry]] * 2004: [[Shakespeare Prize]] * 2009: [[John_William_Corrington|John William Corrington]] Award for Literary Excellence ==See also== *[[List of Northern Irish writers]] ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== {{wikiquote}} *[http://www.paulmuldoon.net/ Paul Muldoon's official website] *[http://www.rackett.org/default.html Website of Rackett, Muldoon's band] *[http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2008/2183300.htm Transcript of interview] with [[Ramona Koval]], [[The Book Show]] , [[ABC Radio National]], March 2008 *[http://www.griffinpoetryprize.com/shortlist_2003.php?t=5 Griffin Poetry Prize biography, including audio clip] *[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/magazine/19muldoon.html Word Freak - Profile of Muldoon in the New York Times Magazine] *[http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article3886602.ece "When the Pie Was Opened"]: a poem by Paul Muldoon from [http://www.the-tls.co.uk TLS], May 7 2008. *[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/incomingFeeds/article670080.ece "Sillyhow Stride"]: a poem by Paul Muldoon in memory of Warren Zevon from [http://www.the-tls.co.uk TLS], May 31 2006. * [http://www.blueflowerarts.com/paul-muldoon.html Author's Booking Agency: Blue Flower Arts > Author Page > Paul Muldoon] {{DEFAULTSORT:Muldoon, Paul}} [[Category:1951 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Poets from Northern Ireland]] [[Category:Aosdána members]] [[Category:Alumni of Queen's University Belfast]] [[Category:Academics of the University of St Andrews]] [[Category:Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winners]] [[Category:Princeton University faculty]] [[Category:People from County Armagh]] [[Category:People from Somerset County, New Jersey]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature]] [[de:Paul Muldoon]] [[ga:Paul Muldoon]] [[gv:Paul Muldoon]] [[pl:Paul Muldoon]] [[ru:Малдун, Пол]]'