George MacBeth was one of the original members of that coterie of poets that gathered under the wings of, first, Philip Hobsbaum and, then, Edward Lucie-Smith in the mid-1950s. These poets, partly in reaction to the orthodoxy of Movement poetry and partly in pursuit of their own stated poetic, "that the principle by which words work in poetry is something open to rational examination," became known as the Group. MacBeth's association with the Group was never based on stylistic cohesion, but rather benefited him through regular contact with critical and creative concepts of other writers. From this base he has become one of the most prolific and diverse poets of the past several decades.

George MacBeth was born on 19 January 1932, in the mining village of Shotts in Scotland to George MacBeth and Amelia Morton Mary Mann MacBeth. When he was four, his family moved to Sheffield. His...