Huddersfield poet Simon Armitage is bidding for a top post.

The Marsden-born poet is one of five candidates to be the next Professor of Poetry at Oxford University, a prestigious position that was first established in the early 18th century and whose previous incumbents include Robert Graves and WH Auden.

It is seen as being second only to the role of Poet Laureate.

Armitage is up against Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka for the five-year role, as well as A E Stallings, poet, novelist and critic Ian Gregson, and the poet, publisher and psychotherapist Seán Haldane.

The decision on who gets the £12,000 a year post will hinge on an election among Oxford graduates, who vote next month with the results to be announced on June 19.

Each candidate has to be backed by graduates and Armitage has secured the support of 54.

He said: “I fell under poetry’s spell when I was fifteen and have remained under its influence ever since.

“At first I only wanted to read poetry, then eventually and inevitably wanted to try my hand at the stuff. Now, after so many years in the field, I feel I have plenty to say on the subject and a desire to talk and write about it. It’s for that reason and at this time that I have put myself forward for the position of Professor of Poetry.

“I believe the post has been well served by active poets. I would maintain the tradition of giving one formal lecture per term, the emphasis being on close reading of past and contemporary work, right up to the present day.

“The watchword will be craft. I’d also use the platform to discuss the situation of poetry and poets in the twenty-first century, to address the obstacles and opportunities brought about by changes in education, changes in reading habits, the internet, poetry’s decreasing “market share”, poetry’s relationship with the civilian world and the (alleged) long, lingering death of the book”.

Armitage, 51, was brought up in Marsden and now lives in the Holme Valley.

He is regularly featured on TV and radio and has published more than 15 collections of poems.