Frederick Louis MacNeice was born in Belfast and lived from 1907–1963; he was a notable British poet. He studied at Oxford at the same time as Auden, Stephen Spender, and Cecil Day-Lewis.

His classical style was first expressed in Blind Fireworks from 1929. As a BBC writer for over twenty years, he created radio plays such as The Dark Tower. He lectured at various British universities, as well as Cornell University in the USA.

His poems, translations from the Greek, and plays were published during his lifetime as collections. He also wrote a children's book The Sixpence that Rolled Away , published in 1956.

He wrote an astrological textbook entitled simply Astrology (published posthumously in 1964) which remains fairly popular.

His body of work was widely appreciated by the public during his lifetime, due in part to his relaxed but socially and emotionally aware style.