In “One for the Footnotes” (
Expanded Universes, 1995), Christopher Reid condenses his life to sixteen lines of self-effacing third-person commentary, mockingly describing his poetry as “obscene / botches, travesties of what might have been” (15-16). This refusal to become ensnared in false sententiousness unites the disparate phases of Reid's career, throughout which he has surrounded himself with an aura of mystery and irony perhaps best captured in the diverse range of Protean “sham personas” he has chosen for the narrators in much of his work. The author of six collections of adult poetry and two collections of children's verse, works for which he has been the recipient of several prestigious literary prizes – among them an Eric Gregory Award (1978), Somerset Maugham…
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Citation: Hayes, M. Hunter. "Christopher Reid". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 November 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5522, accessed 24 November 2024.]
