{"id":92427,"date":"2015-12-01T11:58:43","date_gmt":"2015-12-01T16:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=92427"},"modified":"2015-12-01T17:04:19","modified_gmt":"2015-12-01T22:04:19","slug":"christopher-middleton-1926-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Christopher Middleton, 1926\u20132015"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_92455\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/christopher-middleton.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-92455\" class=\"wp-image-92455 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/christopher-middleton.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"392\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/christopher-middleton.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/christopher-middleton-300x196.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-92455\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christopher Middleton<\/p><\/div>\n<p>We\u2019ve received word that the poet Christopher Middleton has passed away at eighty-nine. Guy Davenport called him \u201can incomparable stylist, a wry ironist, a philosopher of words. The only category in which he fits justly,\u201d he added, \u201cis that of poet.\u201d The <em>Review <\/em>published Middleton throughout his career, beginning in our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/back-issues\/24\" target=\"_blank\">Summer\u2013Fall 1960 issue<\/a>, from which the poem below, \u201cEdward Lear in February,\u201d is taken.\u00a0<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Edward Lear in February<\/p>\n<p>Since last September I\u2019ve been trying to describe<br \/>Two moonstone hills,<br \/>And an ochre mountain, by candlelight, behind,<br \/>But a lizard has been sick into the ink,<br \/>A cat keeps clawing at me, you should see my face,<br \/>I\u2019m too intent to dodge.<\/p>\n<p>Out of the corner of my eye,<br \/>An old man (he\u2019s putting almonds into a bag)<br \/>Stoops in sunlight, closer than the hills.<br \/>But all the time these bats flick at me<br \/>And plop, like foetuses, all over the blotting paper.<br \/>Someone began playing a gong outside, once.<br \/>I liked that, it helped; but in a flash<br \/>Neighbours were pelting him with their slippers and things,<br \/>Bits of coke and old railway timetables.<\/p>\n<p>I have come unstuck in this cellar. Help.<br \/>Pacing up and down in my own shadow<br \/>Has stopped me liking the weight it falls from.<br \/>That lizard looks like being sick again. The owls<br \/>Have built a stinking nest on the Eighteenth Century.<\/p>\n<p>So much for two moonstone hills,<br \/>Ochre mountain, old man<br \/>Cramming all those almonds into a bag.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019ve received word that the poet Christopher Middleton has passed away at eighty-nine. Guy Davenport called him \u201can incomparable stylist, a wry ironist, a philosopher of words. The only category in which he fits justly,\u201d he added, \u201cis that of poet.\u201d The Review published Middleton throughout his career, beginning in our Summer\u2013Fall 1960 issue, from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[20379,7575,20381,7278,20537,20380,11989,165,2047,13136],"class_list":["post-92427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-memoriam","tag-christopher-middleton","tag-edward-lear","tag-edward-lear-in-february","tag-guy-davenport","tag-in-memoriam","tag-issue-24","tag-obituaries","tag-poetry","tag-poets","tag-remembrances"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>In Memory of Christopher Middleton, 1926\u20132015<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"To remember the poet, we\u2019re publishing one of his poems from our Summer-Fall 1960 issue, \u201cEdward Lear in February.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christopher Middleton, 1926\u20132015 by Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"December 1, 2015 \u2013 We\u2019ve received word that the poet Christopher Middleton has passed away at eighty-nine. Guy Davenport called him \u201can incomparable stylist, a wry ironist,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-01T16:58:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-12-01T22:04:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/christopher-middleton.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"392\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dan Piepenbring\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8\"},\"headline\":\"Christopher Middleton, 1926\u20132015\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-01T16:58:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-01T22:04:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/\"},\"wordCount\":255,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/christopher-middleton.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Christopher Middleton\",\"Edward Lear\",\"Edward Lear in February\",\"Guy Davenport\",\"In Memoriam\",\"Issue 24\",\"obituaries\",\"poetry\",\"poets\",\"remembrances\"],\"articleSection\":[\"In Memoriam\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/\",\"name\":\"In Memory of Christopher Middleton, 1926\u20132015\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/christopher-middleton.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-01T16:58:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-01T22:04:19+00:00\",\"description\":\"To remember the poet, we\u2019re publishing one of his poems from our Summer-Fall 1960 issue, \u201cEdward Lear in February.\u201d\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/christopher-middleton.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/christopher-middleton.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Christopher Middleton, 1926\u20132015\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8\",\"name\":\"Dan Piepenbring\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fde7ced443ba5b52db3b06239dca8a2eaeff111fccecd7bf483663c99d2762b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fde7ced443ba5b52db3b06239dca8a2eaeff111fccecd7bf483663c99d2762b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Piepenbring\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/dpiepenbring\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"In Memory of Christopher Middleton, 1926\u20132015","description":"To remember the poet, we\u2019re publishing one of his poems from our Summer-Fall 1960 issue, \u201cEdward Lear in February.\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Christopher Middleton, 1926\u20132015 by Dan Piepenbring","og_description":"December 1, 2015 \u2013 We\u2019ve received word that the poet Christopher Middleton has passed away at eighty-nine. Guy Davenport called him \u201can incomparable stylist, a wry ironist,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2015-12-01T16:58:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-12-01T22:04:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":392,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/christopher-middleton.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dan Piepenbring","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Piepenbring","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/"},"author":{"name":"Dan Piepenbring","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8"},"headline":"Christopher Middleton, 1926\u20132015","datePublished":"2015-12-01T16:58:43+00:00","dateModified":"2015-12-01T22:04:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/"},"wordCount":255,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/christopher-middleton.jpg","keywords":["Christopher Middleton","Edward Lear","Edward Lear in February","Guy Davenport","In Memoriam","Issue 24","obituaries","poetry","poets","remembrances"],"articleSection":["In Memoriam"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/","name":"In Memory of Christopher Middleton, 1926\u20132015","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/christopher-middleton.jpg","datePublished":"2015-12-01T16:58:43+00:00","dateModified":"2015-12-01T22:04:19+00:00","description":"To remember the poet, we\u2019re publishing one of his poems from our Summer-Fall 1960 issue, \u201cEdward Lear in February.\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/christopher-middleton.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/christopher-middleton.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/01\/christopher-middleton-1926-2015\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Christopher Middleton, 1926\u20132015"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8","name":"Dan Piepenbring","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fde7ced443ba5b52db3b06239dca8a2eaeff111fccecd7bf483663c99d2762b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fde7ced443ba5b52db3b06239dca8a2eaeff111fccecd7bf483663c99d2762b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Piepenbring"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/dpiepenbring\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92427"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92457,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92427\/revisions\/92457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}