“I get up at 5.30am, sluice myself and have two Weetabix and some mint tea, before starting to write by 6am.” Quote by Andrew Motion
“I like eating out. I like buying beautiful paintings and being surrounded by beautiful things. I have to finance that life. I can barely afford a pension scheme because I don't make enough money.” I CanEnoughBeautifulPaintingEatingFinanceBuyingSchemesBeautiful ThingsPensionEating OutBeautiful Paintings Author:Andrew Motion
“I read ' Treasure Island' for the first time at university. And I started to notice then how unresolved some things were. Later, I realised that Stevenson was interested in sequels, and I wondered whether he would have gone back to it had he lived longer.” FirstsGoneFirst TimeUniversityTreasureIslandsRealisedSequelsTreasure Island Author:Andrew Motion
“I shall try to write a poem that is about the moment but doesn't betray things that are true to me as a poet.” WritingTryingMomentsPoetBetray Author:Andrew Motion
“Defenceless under the night Our world in stupor lies; Yet, dotted everywhere, Ironic points of light Flash out wherever the Just Exchange their messages: May I, composed like them Of Eros and of dust, Beleaguered by the same Negation and despair, Show an affirming flame.” WorldMayShowsLightLyingNightDespairMessagesDustFlamesOur WorldIronicFlashAffirmingErosNegationPoints Of Light Author:W. H. Auden
“What I try to do is to go into a poem - and one writes them, of course, poem by poem - to go into each poem, first of all without having any sense whatsoever of where it's going to end up” WritingTryingFirstsEndsCourses Author:Paul Muldoon
“One will never again look at a birch tree, after the Robert Frost poem, in exactly the same way.” WayLooksPoetryTreePoeticFrostBirch Trees Author:Paul Muldoon
“I certainly am interested in accessibility, clarity, and immediacy.” ClarityAccessibilityImmediacy Author:Paul Muldoon
“For whatever reason, people, including very well-educated people or people otherwise interested in reading, do not read poetry” PeopleWellsReasonReadingIncludingEducatedWell Educated Author:Paul Muldoon
“The ground swell is what’s going to sink you as well as being what buoys you up. These are clichés also, of course, and I’m sometimes interested in how much one can get away with.” WellsSometimesCoursesGet AwayClicheBuoys Author:Paul Muldoon