Born in Shildon, County Durham on 3 December 1944, Craig Anthony Raine grew up in a working-class home where, as he writes in “A Silver Plate”, the autobiographical prose sequence in his third collection

Rich

(1984), the most important book he owned was a comic book version of Robert Louis Stevenson's

Kidnapped

that Raine's mother had sewn together (

Rich

60-61). The attention to perception that marks much of Raine's poetry, especially his early poems which helped establish the “Martian school” of poetry, owes something perhaps to this seminal influence. Frequently examining everyday domestic or other local settings, Raine's speakers discover wonder in the ordinary. As the author of seven collections of poetry, including his

Collected Poems, 1978-1999

and his verse novel,

History:

1985 words

Citation: Hayes, M. Hunter. "Craig Raine". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 November 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5523, accessed 19 March 2024.]

5523 Craig Raine 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.