Michael O'Neill (1953 – 21 December 2018) was an English poet and scholar, specialising in the Romantic period and post-war poetry.

[2] A graduate of Exeter College, Oxford, O'Neill had lectured at Durham University since 1979, holding the title of Professor.

[5] His most significant publications were on the topic of Romantic literature, of which his most notable single-authored academic works were his 1997 book Romanticism and the Self-Conscious Poem and his 2007 book The All-Sustaining Air (Oxford University Press), which explores the influence of Romantic poetry on poets from Yeats to Roy Fisher.

[7] In addition, he edited and co-edited several important works on Romantic and post-Romantic literature and poetry, including Romantic Poetry: An Annotated Anthology (Blackwell, 2007), A Routledge Literary Sourcebook on the Poems of W. B. Yeats (Routledge, 2004), Percy Bysshe Shelley: The Major Works, Including Poetry, Prose and Drama (Oxford University Press, 2003) and Literature of the Romantic Period: A Bibliographical Guide (Clarendon Press, 1998).

Return of the Gift received a special commendation from the Poetry Book Society and was launched in an event held at Hatfield College, Durham University in February 2018.