Craig Anthony Raine, FRSL (born 3 December 1944) is an English contemporary poet.
Along with Christopher Reid, he is a pioneer of Martian poetry, a movement that expresses alienation with the world, society and objects.
[3] He then worked as a bomb armourer for the RAF, until forced to retire due to epilepsy caused by a skull fracture.
[6]Raine has commented on his education: "At Barnard Castle I was taught by an absolutely remarkable English teacher, Arnold Snodgrass, a friend of W. H. Auden at Oxford [and later Robert Graves].
"[4][7] At school he wrote "'pimply Dylan Thomas' poems, some of which he sent to Philip Toynbee, then lead reviewer at The Observer".
His friend Ian McEwan argues that Raine espouses "very strong and clear, almost Arnoldian, ideas of literature and criticism".