To err is human – even for the greatest poets

For centuries, critics have tried to disguise mistakes in verse as intentional literary licence. An Oxford academic begs to differ

Readers of the world’s finest poetry have often skated over inconsistencies, preferring not to believe the poet was capable of a mistake. Now an Oxford academic has identified a host of poetic errors and compiled them in a book.

Erica McAlpine, associate professor of English, told the Observer that, in researching the work of around 30 poets, she came across hundreds of factual gaffes, mis-spellings and grammatical incongruities.