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" If people connect me with the Romantics in general, they probably connect me most with Keats. But Wordsworth is the poet I admire above all others. "
Andrew Motion
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" 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
Rather
Time
Feelings
" 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
Work
Wish
Better
" 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
" I think it is interesting to think about the absolute animal relish young people have for rhythm and rhyme. "
Andrew Motion
Animal
Think
People
" 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
Things
Own
Than
" 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
Side
You
Mind
" 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
Good
Meeting
Doing
" Each sudden gust of light explains itself as flames, but neither they, nor even bombs redoubled on the hills tonight can quite include me in their fear. "
Andrew Motion
Me
Even
Hills
" I read 'Treasure Island' for the first time at university. And I started to notice then how unresolved some things were. Later, I realised that Stevenson was interested in sequels, and I wondered whether he would have gone back to it had he lived longer. "
Andrew Motion
University
Island
Time
" 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
Sentimental
Saying
Emotional
" These places, and the ancient things you know, You won't know soon. I'm working on it now.' "
Andrew Motion
You
Things
Places
" I've found a different way to scent the air: already it's a by-word for despair. "
Andrew Motion
Scent
Despair
Air
" 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
Thinking
Body
Great
" 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
Poem
Well
Big
" 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
You
Good
Family
" But Wordsworth is the poet I admire above all others. "
Andrew Motion
Others
Admire
Above
" You see the names of places roundabout? They're mine now, and I've turned them inside out. "
Andrew Motion
Inside
Names
Now
" But I can't and don't ever want to write bell-yanking confetti-tossing hat-throwing poems. "
Andrew Motion
Poems
Ever
Write
" I write between 5.30am and 9.00. That way, I hope I carry over something from my dream time. "
Andrew Motion
Time
Write
Way
" I'm also a great believer in the dream life; that while we're asleep, a deep subconscious connection is made about our profoundest fears, hopes, loves, losses, dreads and desires. "
Andrew Motion
Life
Dream
Great
" Like a lot of people, for a long time I thought that the road to hell is paved with bad sequels. "
Andrew Motion
Hell
Thought
Road
" 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
Life
My Life
Poetry
" 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
Dream
Great
Head
" In a general way, I want to be a kind of flag-waver, bunting hanger-up, drum-beater, you name it, for poetry. "
Andrew Motion
Way
You
Kind