[Alex Stewart]

I think because she did want it before the last appointment, but when she was turned down with all the rumours of it being about sexual orientation, it sort of stung quite a bit. Plus, the Poet Laureate position doesn't always lend itself to producing good poetry.

[Holly Martins]

Originally Posted by Alex Stewart

the Poet Laureate position doesn't always lend itself to producing good poetry.

Well you certainly said a mouthful there, Alex. Can anyone remember the last great ceremonial poem a Poet Laureate wrote? The post is a chimera, no one could walk into the job and start writing fabulous poems about the Royal Family and all their doings. The best thing is to be offered the post then publicly turn it down - like Alan Bennett snubbing his K. - you get the kudos of everyone knowing you're up to the job without actually having to do it.

[John Whitworth]

They did ask me but I had to turn it down. Too busy entering competitions in The Spectator and The Oldie. The Queen was very understanding, particularly when I told her I was kneeling by the phone

[Rory Waterman]

"Why does Carol Anne have to think so long about it? Either you fancy the job or you don't."

Why do people wait three rings to answer the phone? Why do people turn up a bit late to the party? Not because they don't want to answer. Not because they don't want to be there.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8027767.stm

Hooray! We have a new Poet Laureate. And New Labour's ten year tenancy has allowed us to quickly address the gender/sexuality/race/disability/etc/ad nauseum imbalance: first woman, first Scot, first this, first that, and a smattering of artistic praise about emotion from our emotional PM:

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "She is a truly brilliant modern poet who has stretched our imaginations by putting the whole range of human experiences into lines that capture the emotions perfectly."

That's a man wot knows his emotional onions. In ten years we'll be on the hunt for someone else - anyone, really - who isn't a white English man: they're so last century.

Duffy's a fine poet, and she writes real poems too. She has a genuine readership and children as well as adults like her (or are told to at school, at least). She's an extremely good choice. But who would have dared to select a man? What part does box-ticking politics have to play in selecting a modern Laureate?

[peter richards]

"She is a truly brilliant modern poet who has stretched our imaginations by putting the whole range of human experiences into lines that capture the emotions perfectly."

= She is a (...) poet who (...) imagin(...(e))s (...) human experience(s) (...(and))emotion(...)

or even: She is a poet.

It's easier to criticise than to do, but doesn't the man puff up?

Never mind, she's good. Long may she sing out.

[Gail White]

I just heard the news on NPR and was about to post it here but the quick Sphere was way ahead of me. In a short search ('cause I'm supposed to be working) I could not find any poems - does anyone have a link?

PS: In answer to question above, the last great ceremonial poem by a Laureate was Tennyson's "Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington. "

[Clive]

What a thrill!
A woman instead of a man!
And what's more, one
Who's Scottish, Catholic, a sometime dyke
And solid working class stock.
I like!

Simon Armitage can get on his bike
Roger McGough can sod off.
It's not that I bear any animus here
To either chap, but a PL who's female and queer,
In Britain, 2009 - well, it's about bloody time!
It's good for the country and poetry too
That the long long line
From Dryden to now of middle-aged middle class blokes
Was broke.

Woohoo, you go girl!
And when
You pen
Your ode to the sale of a royal commode
Or the Queen's new dress
Or the wedding of one of the minor princesses
We, your constituency,
The gals, the gays, those who have it both ways
Or no way at all will be of immense good cheer.
So here, raise a glass to a classy dame:
Our sparkly new
Poet Laureate:
Carol, your name's in the frame,
The drinks are on you.

[David Anthony]

Originally Posted by Gail White

I just heard the news on NPR and was about to post it here but the quick Sphere was way ahead of me. In a short search ('cause I'm supposed to be working) I could not find any poems - does anyone have a link?

Here's one of her sonnets:

Prayer

Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer
utters itself. So, a woman will lift
her head from the sieve of her hands and stare
at the minims sung by a tree, a sudden gift.

Some nights, although we are faithless, the truth
enters our hearts, that small familiar pain;
then a man will stand stock-still, hearing his youth
in the distant Latin chanting of a train.

Pray for us now. Grade 1 piano scales
console the lodger looking out across
a Midlands town. Then dusk, and someone calls
a child's name as though they named their loss.

Darkness outside. Inside, the radio's prayer -
Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre.

[Holly Martins]

In answer to question above, the last great ceremonial poem by a Laureate was Tennyson's "Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington.

Blimey, I hope we don't have to wait another 150 years for a decent poem.

[Alex Stewart]

Originally Posted by Rory Waterman

Duffy's a fine poet, and she writes real poems too. She has a genuine readership and children as well as adults like her (or are told to at school, at least). She's an extremely good choice. But who would have dared to select a man? What part does box-ticking politics have to play in selecting a modern Laureate?

Honestly, I don't think that had anything to do with it. There was another guy who was all the "standard" things - and he was as much up for winning it as Duffy was.