Simon Armitage
Simon Armitage
Simon Robert Armitage CBEis an English poet, playwright and novelist. On 19 June 2015, Armitage was elected Oxford Professor of Poetry, succeeding Geoffrey Hill...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth26 May 1963
song art two
As far as I can tell, there are two kinds of poets: those who want to tell stories and sing songs, and those who want to work out the chemical equation for language and pass on their experiments as poetry.
ordinary miraculous
The ordinary can be absolutely miraculous.
people had-enough might
I wondered if people might not have had enough of Simon Armitage and wondered whether I hadn't had enough of Simon Armitage.
new-york squares zippers
I once stood in the middle of New York city watching my name go round the electronic zipper sign in Times Square and I felt pretty thrilled, but not quite as thrilled as I felt when I saw my name in the Examiner for the first time.
war loss hands
And wonder, dread and war have lingered in that land where loss and love in turn have held the upper hand.
behind both felt grateful home road town travelling
Occasionally it's been a long and bumpy road - one I'm still travelling - but I've always felt like my home town has been solidly behind me and I'm both grateful and proud.
thinking voice needs
We still need a voice that thinks before it speaks.
believe thinking today
It’s never going to be very mainstream. One reason is that poetry requires concentration, both on the part of the writer and the reader. But it’s kind of unkillable, poetry. It’s our most ancient artform and I think it’s more relevant today than ever, because it’s one person saying what they really believe.
war meditation ironic
I intend 'Dämmerung' to be an ironic meditation on the financial rewards of poetry and a tragicomic lament on the passing of time and the changes in literary taste. The other poets mentioned are my poetic cohort from the U.K. I wrote the piece in situ, as it were, while making a television documentary about World War I in Germany.
might way world
If you were going to choose a way of making your way in this world and a place to start from, you might not choose poetry and you might not choose Huddersfield.