I don't want my poems to be sentimental, though I do acknowledge that sentiment is probably rather under-reported in a lot of people's feelings a lot of the time. Andrew Motion More Quotes by Andrew Motion More Quotes From Andrew Motion The best public poems aren't necessarily those that go at the subject like a bull at a gate. Andrew Motion gate best go like I'm an early bird, partly because I like to have some quiet time and partly because by 9am emails begin arriving, the phone starts ringing and I have dragons to kill of one sort or another. Andrew Motion phone time bird quiet I've found a different way to scent the air: already it's a by-word for despair. Andrew Motion scent despair different way Those who say we should dismantle the role of Poet Laureate altogether, the trick they miss is that being called this thing, with the weight of tradition behind it, and with the association of the Royal family, does allow you to have conversations and to open doors, and wallets, for the good of poetry in a way that nothing else would allow. Andrew Motion good you family poetry I'm not precisely saying that a really good board meeting at the MLA (Museums, Libraries and Archives Coucil) makes me want to go and write poetry, but there is a pleasure in doing that sort of thing well. Andrew Motion saying good me poetry You see the names of places roundabout? They're mine now, and I've turned them inside out. Andrew Motion inside mine see you These places, and the ancient things you know, You won't know soon. I'm working on it now.' Andrew Motion things now know you Keats writes better about poems than anybody I've ever read. The things that he says about what he wants his own poems to be are the ideals that I share. Andrew Motion about own better things I want to write poems which are very emotional, but I would have some hesitation in saying I want to write poems which are sentimental. Andrew Motion saying some emotional want Poetry is at the centre of my life, too, emotionally speaking, and intellectually speaking - it's just that I'm one of those people who enjoy doing other stuff as well. Andrew Motion my-life poetry life people I'm not much given to making shamanistic remarks about all this, but I'm a great believer in the dream life. If I can carry without spilling whatever it is that drips into my head in the night to my desk, then that's valuable. Andrew Motion great dream night life If I were to die thinking that I'd written three poems that people might read after me, I would feel that I hadn't lived in vain. Great poets might expect the whole body of their work, but most of us - well, I would settle for a handful. Andrew Motion great me work people I've always thought that the balance between the side of my mind that knows what it is doing and the side that really hasn't got a clue has to be carefully maintained because if you write too knowingly then you get chilly, and if you write too unknowingly you write bollocks that nobody else can understand. Andrew Motion nobody you balance mind I wish I'd been better able to resist the sense of obligation to write some of the poems I did. It's in the nature of commissioned work to be written too much from the side of your mind that knows what it's doing, which dries up the poetry. Andrew Motion poetry nature mind work Well, it's a badge of honour for any self-respecting poet to be criticized by Auberon Waugh. But in a lot of ways my poems are very conventional, and it's no big deal for me to write a poem in either free verse or strict form; modern poets can, and do, do both. Andrew Motion free big me poet
