National Poetry Day 2010 - Simon Armitage interviewed

For National Poetry Day 2010 Simon Armitage talks about the business of writing poems and the inspirations that drive him to commit his ideas to paper. Find out more at http://www.nationalpoetryday.co.uk/ and visit our poetry section http://www.culture24.org.uk/poetry

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[willywoo95]

Can I just say... I prefer your poems to Carol Ann Duffy's.

[DonkeyPoetry]

That's right go home and write a poem Simon. Don't forget to renew your membership to the awkward squad Simon. Simon?

[MrMoviemaverick]

Carol Ann Duffy ............is there a comparison to be made? These are two artists and go about it with their own separate voices. For what its worth, they are both amazing, in my opinion.

[TenWhoWereTaken]

@sweetmtl All art is subjective, but only to a certain extent. There is most definitely is such a thing as bad poetry. Whether it is possible to call Duffy a bad poet is another matter.

[sweetmtl]

@MrPasswordispassword @SuperTakashii can we please stop calling poetry good or bad? It's not black or white; it's not a science or a contained formula, and that is the thing that makes poetry (and all writing) so brilliant. Who are we to claim that something is 'bad' or 'good'? Poetry cannot be incorrect or correct. So please, you may argue about who you prefer, but never belittle poetry to something 'good' or 'bad' - it is simply art.

[MrPasswordispassword]

@SuperTakashii she really isnt technically very good. Her poems sometimes dont seem very obvious because they're vague and contain very little emotion. As someone that's actually seen her perform she also seems incredibly arrogant and put virtually no feeling into what she writes. Anyone can write in sonnet form, its an awful lot like a pianist working on scales for years; it's only when we have a grasp of the basic rules such as a sonnet that we can experiment and be creative.

[SuperTakashii]

@willywoo95 By saying that you clearly haven't analysed a real piece if poetry before. Good poetry is far beyond the reaches of many people.

[willywoo95]

@SuperTakashii Poetry isn't anything special, I could shit one out after a large curry, just like that.

[SuperTakashii]

@willywoo95 Oh god no. Carol Ann Duffy is technically brilliant and can write in sonnet form. Simon Armitage is so samey and most of his poems are really obvious. A lot of them are just an extended metaphor and, other than that, have very little to them, like Mother any Distance for example. He's always talking about relationships with parents too, which is boring. He thinks he's a lot more clever than he is.