The British poet Geoffrey Hill has been elected the University of Oxford’s professor of poetry, becoming the 44th holder of the post since it was created in 1708, the university announced today. Mr. Hill was elected with 1,156 votes, while his closest competitor, Michael Horovitz, garnered just 353, in balloting that for the first time included online voting by Oxford graduates and academics. This year’s contest was unmarred by the drama and scandal of the previous election, when Ruth Padel defeated the Nobel laureate Derek Wolcott but subsequently resigned before taking up the position when it emerged that she had helped to circulate stories of decade-old sexual-harassment allegations against Mr. Wolcott. The position, which is normally held for five years, had been vacant since then. Although this year’s election did not feature the headline-making allegations of last year’s campaign, it wasn’t without controversy, according to The Guardian, which reported that “last week the only female candidate, the poet Paula Claire, withdrew, alleging favoritism towards Hill; while earlier this week, Horovitz accused his rival Lewis of ‘pseudo-intellectual chutzpah.’”