the last of the commune dwellers

"Gunn, who died in 2004, began his career as a hot young poet in England (he published his first book, “Fighting Terms,” when he was only 25) and was generally associated with the taut, plainspoken aesthetic favored by writers like Philip Larkin and Donald Davie. In 1954, he left England for San Francisco, where he eventually settled after studying with Yvor Winters at Stanford. Gunn embraced the city’s bohemian lifestyle — Edmund White called him “the last of the commune dwellers ... serious and intellectual by day and druggy and sexual by night” — and he grew increasingly interested in syllabics and free verse even as he continued to hone the metrical forms that distinguished his early career."

David Orr on Thom Gunn (Gravesend, Kent, 1929-San Francisco, CA, 2004), excerpt from Too Close to Touch, published in the Sunday Book Review, The New York Times, July 10, 2009


Further reading:

Poems by Thom Gunn on The Poetry Archive

Profile: Moving voice (The Guardian)

A Poet's life, part one, part two (San Francisco Chronicle)

Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate

Last Friday, Carol Ann Duffy was appointed Poet Laureate, the first woman to hold the title in the post's 341-year history. She succeeds Andrew Motion as Laureate and is appointed for a fixed-term of ten years. Duffy, 53, was born in Glasgow and spent her school years in Stafford. She studied philosophy at the University of Liverpool. Best known for her collection The World's Wife, she won the T.S. Eliot prize for Rapture. Duffy said that she will give the £5,750 annual payment away but has clearly stated that she will personally enjoy the 600 bottles of sherry traditionally given to the Laureate.

* * *

"Poetry can't be documentary. I'm not sure that any of the arts should be — but poetry, above all, is a series of intense moments — its power is not in narrative. I'm not dealing with facts, I'm dealing with emotion."

Carol Ann Duffy (Glasgow, 1955), as quoted by jeanette winterson in The Times, September 3, 2005


Further reading:

Carol Ann Duffy appointed new Poet Laureate (NDS)

First female Poet Laureate named (BBC News)

Profile: Carol Ann Duffy (BBC News)

Carol Ann Duffy becomes first woman poet laureate (The Guardian)

Profile: Carol Ann Duffy (The Guardian)

Carol Ann Duffy: The original good line girl (The Sunday Times)

Carol Ann Duffy: A poet laureate with a twist (The Independent)

carolannduffy.co.uk

Poetry by Carol Ann Duffy at The Guardian, Times Online and The Poetry Archive

Harold Pinter (1930-2008)

"In 1958 I wrote the following: 'There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false. A thing is not necessarily either true or false; it can be both true and false.' I believe that these assertions still make sense and do still apply to the exploration of reality through art. So as a writer I stand by them but as a citizen I cannot. As a citizen I must ask: What is true? What is false?"

harold pinter (London, 1930-2008), an excerpt from Art, Truth & Politics, his Nobel Lecture, shown on video on December 7, 2005, in Börssalen at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm


Further reading:

HaroldPinter.org

Pinter at The Guardian, BBC News, The New York Times, The Poetry Archive