Editing Louis MacNeice (section)

===War and after, 1941–1963===
MacNeice's work for the BBC initially involved writing and producing radio programmes intended to build support for the US, and later Russia – cultural programmes emphasising links between the countries rather than outright propaganda. A critical work on [[William Butler Yeats|W. B. Yeats]] (on which he had been working since the poet's death in 1939) was published early in 1941, as were ''Plant and Phantom'' and ''Poems 1925–1940'' (an American anthology). At the end of the year, MacNeice started a relationship with [[Hedli Anderson]] and they were married in July 1942, three months after the death of his father.<ref Name="PF"/> Brigid Corinna MacNeice (known by her second name like her parents, or as "Bimba") was born a year later. By the end of the war MacNeice had written well over sixty scripts for the BBC and a further collection of poems, ''Springboard''. The radio play ''[[Christopher Columbus (play)|Christopher Columbus]]'', produced in 1942 and later published as a book, featured music by [[William Walton]], conducted by [[Sir Adrian Boult]], and starred [[Laurence Olivier]]. 1943's ''He Had a Date'' (loosely based on the life and death of MacNeice's friend [[Graham Shepard]] but also semi-autobiographical) was also published, as was ''[[The Dark Tower (radio play)|The Dark Tower]]'' (1946, again with music by Britten). [[Dylan Thomas]] acted in some of MacNeice's plays during this period, and the two poets, both heavy drinkers, also became social companions. MacNeice narrated (and wrote poems for) the 1945 film [[Painted Boats]].

In 1947, the BBC sent MacNeice to report on Indian independence and [[Partition of India|partition]], and he continued to produce plays for the corporation, including a six-part radio adaptation of [[Goethe]]'s ''[[Goethe's Faust|Faust]]'' in 1949. 1948's collection of poems, ''Holes in the Sky'', met with a less favourable reception than previous books. In 1950 he was given eighteen months' leave to become Director of the British Institute in Athens, run by the [[British Council]].<ref name=MCreg /> [[Patrick Leigh Fermor]] had previously been Deputy Director of the Institute, and he and his future wife, the Honourable [[Joan Leigh Fermor|Joan Elizabeth Rayner]] (née Eyres Monsell), became close friends of the MacNeices. ''Ten Burnt Offerings'', poems written in Greece, were broadcast by the BBC in 1951 and published the following year. The family returned to England in August 1951, and Dan (who had been at an English boarding school) left for America in early 1952 to stay with his mother, to avoid [[national service]]. Dan would return to England in 1953, but went to live permanently with his mother after a legal battle with MacNeice.

In 1953, MacNeice wrote ''Autumn Sequel'', a long autobiographical poem in [[terza rima]], which critics compared unfavourably with ''Autumn Journal''. The death of Dylan Thomas came partway through the writing of the poem, and MacNeice involved himself in memorials for the poet and attempts to raise money for his family. 1953 and 1954 brought lecture and performance tours of the USA (husband and wife would present an evening of song, monologue and poetry readings), and meetings with [[John Berryman]] (on the returning boat in 1953, and later in London) and Eleanor Clark (by now married to [[Robert Penn Warren]]). MacNeice travelled to Egypt in 1955 and Ghana in 1956 on lengthy assignments for the BBC. Another poorly received collection of poems, ''Visitations'', was published in 1957, and the MacNeices bought a holiday home on the [[Isle of Wight]] from [[J. B. Priestley]] (an acquaintance since MacNeice's arrival in London twenty years earlier). However, the marriage was starting to become strained. MacNeice was drinking increasingly heavily, and having more or less serious affairs with other women. At this time MacNeice became increasingly independent of spirit, spending time with other writers, including [[Dominic Behan]] with whom he regularly drank to oblivion; the two men spent a particularly drunken night in the home of [[Cecil Woodham-Smith]] during a curious meeting in Ireland whilst Behan was working on assignment as a writer for ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine and MacNeice on assignment with the BBC. During the trip, which allegedly lasted some weeks, neither writer managed successfully to file their copy.
[[File:The grave of Louis Macneice near Carrowdore - geograph.org.uk - 437068.jpg|thumb|MacNeice was buried at Carrowdore with his mother]]
MacNeice was awarded the [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]] in the 1958 [[New Year Honours]] list.<ref name=MCreg /> A South African trip in 1959 was followed by the start of his final relationship, with the actress [[Mary Wimbush]], who had performed in his plays since the forties. Hedli asked MacNeice to leave the family home in late 1960. In early 1961, ''Solstices'' was published, and in the middle of the year MacNeice became a half-time employee at the BBC, leaving him six months a year to work on his own projects. By this time he was "living on alcohol", and eating very little, but still writing (including a commissioned work on astrology, which he viewed as "hack-work"). In August 1963 he went caving in Yorkshire to gather sound effects for his final radio play, ''Persons from Porlock''. Caught in a storm on the moors, he did not change out of his wet clothes until he was home in [[Hertfordshire]]. [[Bronchitis]] evolved into viral [[pneumonia]], and he was admitted to hospital in London on 27 August, dying there on 3 September, aged 55.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.openedition.org/puc/544|title=Studies on Louis MacNeice|first=Derek|last=Mahon|chapter=MacNeice, the war and the BBC|series=Littérature et civilisation irlandaises|editor-first1=Jacqueline|editor-last1=Genet|editor-first2=Wynne|editor-last2=Hellegouarc'h|date=20 December 2012|publisher=Presses universitaires de Caen|pages=63–77|isbn=9782841334414|access-date=8 December 2018|via=OpenEdition Books}}</ref><ref Name="BBC1"/>

His ashes were buried in [[Carrowdore]] churchyard in [[County Down]], with his mother and maternal grandfather.<ref Name="BBC1"/> His final book of poems, ''The Burning Perch'', was published a few days after his funeral – Auden, who gave a reading at MacNeice's memorial service, described the poems of his last two years as "among his very best".<ref name="BBC1"/>