Adam Fox (1883 – 1977), Canon, was the Dean of Divinity at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was one of the first members of the "Inklings", a literary group which also included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Between 1938 and 1942 he was Professor of Poetry. Later he became Canon of Westminster Abbey and he is buried there in the Poet's Corner. He was also Warden (Headmaster) of the famous Radley College.
During his time at Oxford, he wrote his long poem in four books "Old King Coel". It gets its name from King Cole, legendary British father of the Roman Empress Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine. As Professor of Poetry, Fox advocated poetry which is intelligible to readers, and gives enough pleasure to be read again. This was important to him because poetry which is not reread will not be understood properly, and will therefore be irrelevant. This advocacy can be understood as a criticism against some forms of modern poetry.
Adam Fox surely was not one of the most important Inklings, yet he is of interest. He has published works concerning Christianity and Platonism. In Plato for Pleasure, he tried to introduce the general public to Plato. Fox desired to make Plato well known among the English classics again and hoped that people would study the platonic dialogues as well as the plays of Shakespeare. His biography of William Ralph Inge, the famous theologian, philosopher and Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral is still regarded as an important text on the individual and was awarded the 1960 James Tait Black Memorial Prize soon after its publication.