Matt Simpson Biography

British poet, born in Bootle, Lancashire, where he grew up amid the maritime traditions informing much of his poetry; he was educated at Cambridge University. He has taught at various schools and colleges and in 1966 became a lecturer in English at the Liverpool Institute of Higher Education. Simpson's poetry appeared in four pamphlet editions before the publication of his first full collection, Making Arrangements (1982). The volume was widely praised for its individuality and its authentic evocations of the social, local, and historical perspectives of Merseyside. Among his stylistic qualities is his ability to synchronize a firm rhythmical pulse with a dramatically effective conversational tone. His further collections include An Elegy for the Galosherman: New and Selected Poems (1990), which contained ‘Collecting Beetles’, Simpson's laconically humorous account of the experiences of a Liverpudlian in Cambridge during the 1950s, and Catching Up With History (1995).