Adcock was born in Papakura, New Zealand but spent the years between 1939 and 1947 living and studying in England. She studied Classics at the Victoria University at Wellington, graduating with a M.A. She worked as an assistant lecturer librarian at the University of Otago in Dunedin until 1961.
In 1963, Adcock returned to England and took up a post as librarian at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. Apart from a brief return to New Zealand in 1975-1976, she has lived in England Ever since, teaching and working as a freelance writer.
Adcock's poetry is typically concerned with themes of place and everyday activities, but frequently with a dark twist given to the mundane events she writes about. Formally, her early work was influenced by her training as a classicist but her more recent work is looser in structure and more concerned with the world of the unconscious mind. Her publications include Selected Poems (1983) and Looking Back (1997). She has edited The Faber Book of 20th Century Women's Poetry. (1987) and The Oxford Book of Contemporary New Zealand Poetry (1982).Early Life
Life in England
Poetry