Auden said poetry makes nothing happen. But I wonder if the opposite could be true. It could make something happen. Carol Ann Duffy More Quotes by Carol Ann Duffy More Quotes From Carol Ann Duffy I like to use simple words, but in a complicated way. Carol Ann Duffy simple use way For me, poetry is the music of being human. And also a time machine by which we can travel to who we are and to who we will become. Carol Ann Duffy who-we-are machines being-human You can find poetry in your everyday life, your memory, in what people say on the bus, in the news, or just what's in your heart. Carol Ann Duffy heart memories people Poets deal in writing about feelings and trying to find the language and images for intense feelings. Carol Ann Duffy feelings writing trying Poetry, above all is a series of intense moments its power is not in narrative. I'm not dealing with facts, I'm dealing Carol Ann Duffy intense-moments narrative facts I write quite a lot of sonnets, and I think of them almost as prayers: short and memorable, something you can recite. Carol Ann Duffy prayer memorable writing Poetry and prayer are very similar. Carol Ann Duffy prayer I see the shape of the poem before I start writing, and the writing is just the process of arriving at the shape. Carol Ann Duffy arriving shapes writing When you have a child, your previous life seems like someone else's. It's like living in a house and suddenly finding a room you didn't know was there, full of treasure and light. Carol Ann Duffy light house children Like the sand and the oyster, it's a creative irritant. In each poem, I'm trying to reveal a truth, so it can't have a fictional beginning. Carol Ann Duffy oysters creative trying As anyone who has the slightest knowledge of my work knows, I have little in common with Larkin, who was tall, taciturn and thin-on-top, and unlike him I laugh, nay, sneer, in the face of death. I will concede one point: we are both lesbian poets. Carol Ann Duffy faces littles laughing I think all poets must feel this: that there is constantly something new to be discovered in the language. It's like a thrilling encounter, and you can find things. Carol Ann Duffy encounters discovery thinking What will you do now with the gift of your left life? Carol Ann Duffy left It is a moon wrapped in brown paper. Carol Ann Duffy brown moon paper I like to think that I'm a sort of poet for our times. Carol Ann Duffy our-time poet thinking Christmas is taken very seriously in this household. I believe in Father Christmas and there's no way I'd do anything to undermine that belief. Carol Ann Duffy christmas believe father If we think of what's up ahead, with climate change and wars over water, it's very frightening. Carol Ann Duffy water war thinking I still read Donne, particularly his love poems Carol Ann Duffy reading-books his-love poetry I grew up in a bookless house - my parents didn't read poetry, so if I hadn't had the chance to experience it at school I'd never have experienced it. But I loved English, and I was very lucky in that I had inspirational English teachers, Miss Scriven and Mr. Walker, and they liked us to learn poems by heart, which I found I loved doing. Carol Ann Duffy heart teacher inspirational What do I haveto help me, without spell or prayer,endure this hour, endless, heartless, anonymous,the death of love? Carol Ann Duffy heartless prayer helping
