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
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.
guilty homer measure time
I even feel guilty if I'm reading a novel, because I think I should be reading Homer again. I don't really know what free time is, because I don't have something to measure it against.
active appears covers four ingredient poetry rather slim thin three tried volumes
I'd never really been content with just churning out these slim volumes every three or four years. I've always tried to think of poetry as an active ingredient in the language rather than just something that appears between the covers of thin books.
point
I'd got to a point where I wanted a break.
closed home inviting local looking open reminds staying throwing
It reminds me to say that staying local should never be about looking at the world through a closed window, but about making a home then throwing the doors open and inviting the world in.
home hands hatred
This misfortune you find is of your own manufacture. Keep hold of what you have, it will harm no other, for hatred comes home to the hand that chose it.
karma misfortunes
This misfortune you find is of your own manufacture.
heart mind towns
The Huddersfield that I like best is a large town with a big heart and an open mind.
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.
dad handwriting charity
Killing time in the precinct, I find a copy of one of my early volumes in a dump-bin on the pavement outside the charity shop. The price is 10p. It is a signed copy. Under the signature, in my own handwriting, are the words, "To mum and dad".
moving found engaged
In all the poems I've written I've not really engaged in politics, and when I've found myself moving in that direction I've always stopped myself.
book years people
Somebody will be able to crack ebook files in the same way that people cracked music files a decade ago. An author could have worked for three years on his book, have someone buy it for their Kindle for £6.99 and then see it shared with everyone in the world for free.
book smell people
People who read poetry, for example, like the feel, the heft and the smell of a book.