Jonathan Glover

Only twenty or twenty-five years ago poets were employed in universities but only rarely because they were poets or to teach writing. It could be contended that in the last few years there has been a massive shift of cultural capital - sharing financial and ideological interest in poetry, poets and associated social and educational structures. Today, perhaps poetry's hotspots have shifted to universities. Although other creative subjects (art, drama, music) have long been part of university degrees, creative writing has, after a long wait, become both welcome and controversial. Higher Education's Quality Assurance Agency has to define 'Benchmarks' for study and assessment in all subjects, and its Benchmark on English includes important statements about writing. There is to be a QAA Benchmark on Creative Writing, and there is already one, widely used, drafted by the National Association of Writers in Education. NAWE publishes substantial resources to support writers who work from primary school to PhD levels. There are additional debates on learning and teaching, with research material on creative writing in degrees located in the Higher Education English Subject Centre run by the Council for College and University English. There are also many books on creative writing, some aimed at the general public and some for university students. Although some are of particular significance (for example, those by Hobsbaum and Wainwright) listed in Further Reading, it is not my intention to comment on them here though they might be thought of as a vital part of poetry's visible, outward structure.
It may seem odd to open an account of poetry's outward forms, its public and institutional infrastructures, with a list of agencies which promote standards, frameworks, guidelines and rules. So I start with more unofficial outward forms though they are probably better known to writers than the QAA Benchmarks.
Originally conceived in Devon by John Moat and John Fairfax, with early support from Ted Hughes, Arvon was a sort of democratisation of the Cambridge and London Group philosophy in which sharing poetry, and discussion of new manuscripts from an author who was sitting with the rest of the group, was thought the most creative, and personally engaging, method of passing on both motivation and skill:
Arvon was founded in 1968 by two poets, John Moat and John Fairfax...