Peter Scupham (John Peter Scupham) Biography

British poet, born in Liverpool, educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He began his career as a schoolteacher in 1957. Since 1974 he has owned the Mandeville Press, specializing in limited editions of new poetry. His first full collection, The Snowing Globe (1972), was followed by numerous volumes of poetry, including The Hinterland (1977), The Air Show (1988), Selected Poems (1990), Watching the Perseids (1990), and The Ark (1994). The reputation he established with his earlier work gained him inclusion in The Penguin Book of Contemporary Verse (1982, edited by Andrew Motion and Blake Morrison) and Some Contemporary Poets of Britain and Ireland (1983, edited by Michael Schmidt). Scupham's writing invariably displays a high degree of technical polish. His tendency to formal complexity combined with refractions of personal experience has produced work of an enigmatic quality. Domestic and local detail frequently provide the contexts for the emotional and intellectual elements in his poetry.