The 53-year-old openly lesbian poet will join the ranks of great literary masters including John Dryden (the first to hold the post), William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson and John Betjeman. Her work will include penning poems for major state occasions and events involving the Royal Family.

An official announcement will be made by the Culture Secretary Andy Burnham in the coming hours or days informing the public of the new Poet Laureate. Having missed out on the position before due to Tony Blair’s concern over Middle England’s views of a lesbian holding the post, the news will be greeted warmly by gay rights groups.

She succeeds Andrew Motion who stated earlier in the week that he was “relieved” to be leaving the job. The announcement will be made at Manchester University’s John Rylands Library.

You can read an earlier post of mine on this subject here: Carol Ann Duffy to be First Female Poet Laureate.

One of her most well known poetry books is Rapture which is a T.S. Eliot Prize winning collection. It’s a book-length love-poem and a moving act of personal testimony through the human emotions of infatuation, longing, passion, commitment, rancour, separation, and grief. With poems that will find deep resonance in the experience of most readers, it is a collection that can and does speak for us all.

This is not the first time she has been put forward for the position. In 1999, after the death of the then incumbent Poet Laureate Ted Hughes, she narrowly lost out to Andrew Motion. Many critics claim her loss was because of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s concern with how her homosexuality would fare with Middle England.

A rather bitter Duffy said retorted: “I will not write a poem for Edward and Sophie (Earl and Countess of Wessex). No self-respecting poet should have to.”

Carol Ann Duffy was born in the Scottish city of Glasgow in 1955. At the age of 4, she and her family moved to Staffordshire in England. She went on to be educated at Saint Austin Roman Catholic Primary School, St. Joseph’s Convent School and Stafford Girls’ High School before studying philosophy from Liverpool University in 1977.

Her first collection of poetry Standing Female Nude was published in 1985. Ten years later, in 1995 she was awarded an OBE and then in 2001, a CBE. Duffy’s popularity has soared over the last couple of decades and she has even become part of the school syllabus in England and Wales.

Journalist Katharine Viner said of Ms Duffy:

“Her poems are accessible and entertaining, yet her form is classical, her technique razor-sharp. She is read by people who don’t really read poetry, yet she maintains the respect of her peers. Reviewers praise her touching, sensitive, witty evocations of love, loss, dislocation, nostalgia; fans talk of greeting her at readings ‘with claps and cheers that would not sound out of place at a pop concert’”.

An announcement on whether she will become Britain’s next Poet Laureate is expected in the coming week after the Queen’s approval. If she is promoted to the position she can expect to earn an annual salary of £5,000 in place of the ancient stipend of a “butt of sack”. She’s also be expected to write poems for the Royal Family and attend major literary events.

See: Carol Ann Duffy is the New British Poet Laureate.

A curator by the name of Martin Myrone said of the experience:

“The 1809 exhibition was Blake’s most significant attempt to present himself as a public artist. But he was damned as an idiot, as a madman, a fool.”

This was highlighted by a newspaper review from shortly after the art show by Robert Hunt of The Examiner:

“The poor man fancies himself a great master and has painted a few wretched pictures, some of which are unintelligible allegory, others an attempt at sober character by caricature representation and the whole blotted and blurred and very badly drawn. These he calls an Exhibition of which he has published a Catalogue, or rather a farrago of nonsense, unintelligibleness and egregious vanity, the wild effusions of a distempered brain.”

William Blake didn’t take kindly to such bitter criticism and increasingly withdrew into himself. His disgust at the state of British Art at the beginning of the 19th Century grew further.

A key figure of the romantic movement, in both the poetry and art, Blake died in 1827. Now 200 years after that one-off attempt to gain recognition for his art work, the Tate Britain gallery in London has recreated the solo exhibition. This time it’s hoped and expected many thousands more people will attend and admire the exhibition of one of England’s greatest cultural figures.

See also: The Stranger from Paradise: A Biography of William Blake (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)

“Pete Doherty once told her that poetry was a good way to express yourself so she thought writing a book of poems about her life would be a fine start.” said a source close to the singer.

“Amy’s been stimulated since living in St. Lucia. She loves the chilled out atmosphere and has found it has encouraged her to write again. She really wants to write a children’s book one day so thought a book of poems would be great practice.”

Her poetry is based on her desires to be love and be loved and are deeply personal in nature. It’s even been said that she was so happy with the results that she showed her personal bodyguard in order for him to understand her more clearly.

The ‘Rehab’ star recently had an extended holiday on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, where she now plans to buy a house. Her family are hoping the island paradise will keep her away from the temptations and ex-boyfriends back home in London.

Quite how good the poems of Amy Winehouse are, is yet to be seen.

Robert Burns

Yesterday (25th) marked 250 years since the birth of the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Celebrations took place across Scotland in honour of the bard most famous for the song “Auld Lang Syne”. Scots enjoyed the feast of Haggis which consists of a sheep’s heart and lungs chopped up with spices and oatmeal and stuffed into a sheep’s stomach which is joined with “neeps” (turnips) and “tatties” (potatoes). Before and after the appetising meal they took part in poetry readings, reciting some of Burns’ poems including ‘Coming Through The Rye’ and ‘A Red, Red Rose’. In Alloway, near Ayr, where Burns was born, thousands of people joined celebrations including a lantern procession and church service.

It wasn’t just in Scotland that celebrations took place. Across the globe, people came together to commemorate the much loved poet. Events took place south of the border as well as in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, China and Japan. The Scottish tourism board, which has recently invested in a celebrity fronted advertising campaign to draw expatriates back to their homeland and attract tourists and business, highlighted the excellence of Burns’ work and praised the literary gifts he had given to Scottish culture.

First Minister Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), described Burns as “Scotland’s human being of the millennium”.

Robert Burns was born on the 25th of January in the year 1759. Born into a poor family, it was his first love, Nelly Kirkpatrick, who first inspired him to write poetry. His work is noted for the heavy Scottish dialect which was in fact part of the title for the first of his published works, “Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect” in 1786. This collection included some of his most impressive poems including “To a Mouse” and “The Holy Fair”.

Like many poets in the past, Burns work gained fame after his premature death at the age of 37, of rheumatic fever. He was buried in the churchyard of St. Michael’s in Dumfries. It has been said he fathered up to 8 illegitimate children born from 5 different women. His wife Jean Burns gave birth to their 9th child together on the very day of his burial.

See also: Worldwide Toast to Robert Burns.

Probably no buses

“There’s probably no God” in Southampton
“Now stop worrying and enjoy your life”.
Now that’s not strictly true – God’s nationwide,
Dwelling on buses, from north to south,
Bringing the atheist message to all.
Southampton’s the home of Mr Heather
A Christian. The British Humanists,
Have been left perplexed by said bus driver’s
Refusal to drive transport with the sign.
“We just can’t understand”, they responded.
Muttering confusion, as the pulpits
Of small coffee shops and internet chat rooms
Ask one question: “Why the word ‘probably’
When the campaign’s defined as atheist?

© Edward Beaman-Hodgkiss

The full story can be read in this BBC Hampshire article.

“Rates of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections are on the up so when you snuggle down with a partner, make sure you do it safely.” said a spokeswoman.

Gossip when the economy perks

When the economy’s rise has stumbled,
Derailed from its wax, shrivelled to a grovel
With no sign of light, and taxes grabble
At what money is left in old sweet tins
Dwelling in the nation’s now vacuous cupboards.
Circumstances leave one alternative,
For those lucky enough to still have beds.

News is that our exploits in the bedroom
Are replacing shopping and non-stop gossiping,
As national pastimes in the financial gloom.
The Scots are the most enthusiastic,
With forty-three percent listing sex as top
On their score sheets, of hobbies, they prefer
When cash is scarce, and the dark nights topple down;
‘Tis a cheaper way of central heating!
The Terrence Higgins Trust reminded all,
That we should buy, our favourite condoms
To help both Gordon Brown’s economy,
And keep away those sexual diseases.

© Edward Beaman-Hodgkiss

You can read the full story on the BBC website in this article titled ‘Britons ‘saving money with sex’ from the 1st of December.

Michael Rosen, a great admirer of the NHS, was honoured to be asked to write the poem. The fact that the institution had seen his five children born in their hospitals and had later saved two of them from septicaemia and pneumonia was not something to be ignored or taken for granted.

“When I came to write this poem, I wanted to express the idea that it serves us cradle to the grave, but I also wanted to celebrate everybody in the service.” said Rosen. “There are many different kinds of essential work going on every minute of the day and I wanted to show that.”

Children asked about the poem gave it raving reviews which was the most important feedback the poet needed.

Theo, aged nine, a pupil from a school in Camden said: “I liked the way it had a constant rhythm a bit like a heartbeat. I think it would cheer up children going into hospital.”

Teachers too have been delighted with the piece.

“I think it is a delightful idea getting the children’s poet laureate to write a poem celebrating the NHS at 60,” said Steven Buzzard, a teacher. “We studied the poem and found it a really good way of teaching the children about the NHS and how long it has been going.”

Hospital directors, paediatricians, politicians and parents have all noted over the years how important the National Health Service has been to the country. However there is still work to be done and more children needing treatment and a sense of security. It’s hoped that Rosen’s poem will go a long way to helping bring down the mystery or anxieties of hospitals.

The poem is as follows.

‘These are the Hands’

These are the hands
That touch us first
Feel your head
Find the pulse
And make your bed.
These are the hands
That tap your back
Hold your arm
Wheel the bin
Change the bulb
Fix the drip
Pour the jug
Replace your hip
These are the hands
That fill the bath
Mop the floor
Flick the switch
Soothe the sore
Burn the swabs
Give us a jab
Throw out sharps
Design the lab.
And these are the hands
That stop the leaks
Empty the pan
Wipe the pipes
Carry the can
Clamp the veins
Make the cast
Log the dose
And touch us last.

by Michael Rosen

The BBC is seeking to help children engage in learning and reciting poetry. Every primary school in the UK is being encouraged to enter a child aged 7 – 11 to compete for the title of UK Poetry Recital Champion, and the chance to represent their school and region in an upcoming competition to be shown on BBC TV in spring 2009.

Pupils taking part will stand in front of their fellows and deliver poems ranging from The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear to Rudyard Kipling’s The Way Through the Woods. Winners will be chosen from each school that holds the competition. The group will then be narrowed down to 12 finalists chosen in regional competitions held at local libraries. The grand final will then take place next April in the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford.

“Poetry is a bit of a dying art and the only way we will get it back to the front of the nation’s consciousness is to teach it to kids,” says author and television presenter Daisy Goodwin. “This will be great fun. It won’t be The X Factor. It will be a warm, friendly competition.”

As many people will concur with, last year’s Ofsted report branded the teaching of poetry in schools countrywide as “dull” and “lightweight”.

Daisy Goodwin believes that the answer lies in starting young. “A seven-year-old might miss every nuance of Kubla Khan or Ozymandias. But learnt young, the poems will stay in the head for life, adding to the lustre of good moments and illumination in the bad.”

The scheme has already been tried and tested in Ireland and the United States where one Kansas teacher has said, ““Success in reciting poetry gives even reluctant learners a feeling of success in an area in which they have had little interest.”

For more information visit the BBC website’s Off By Heart.

Most of contemporary poetry she goes on to say is frustratingly incomprehensible and vague and at worst, self-indulgent. Many of Britain’s best known writers have been deeply offended as a result.

Wendy Cope, a former short-listed poet for the 2001 Whitbread Poetry award said: ‘Joanna Lumley might be widely read, but sometimes people who make comments like this don’t know very much about poetry. People make very good poetry out of the humdrum and commonplace. There are lots of poets writing good poetry that is obscure, and the answer is to educate the public to help them understand that.’

The BBC Radio 3 presenter Ian McMillan, who is widely tipped to be the next Poet Laureate also launched an attack on Lumley’s choice of words. ‘It’s sad and frustrating that people can still come up with generalisations like this. You shouldn’t be able to get poems on the first reading. Part of the delight is the time you take with them to understand them,’ he said. ‘But what’s wrong with humdrum and commonplace, anyway? Frank O’Hara called his poems “lunch poems” because he wrote them in his lunch hour. By the act of writing down his humdrum, it became delightful.’

Other critics of Lumley’s remarks included Dannie Abse, the winner of the Wales Book of the Year award and poetry critic Al Alvarez both of whom directed, perhaps rather unjustly, their attacks at the 62-year-old’s age.

‘This is such an old-fashioned remark. It is not well-informed. In the old days people said modern poetry was obscure, but now people everywhere read it. It is true that most poetry is very bad, but this is true of all poetry in all times.’ said Abse.

However there are many people who share Joanna Lumley’s views including the actor, novelist and comedian Stephen Fry who termed the work produced by many modern poets as ‘arse-dribble’.

Liz Cowley, whose introduction Lumley was writing, also demonstrated her support and said: ‘The problem is that Britain no longer has a cultural voice: it’s all so messy and muddled because people aren’t educated to write word constructions any more. With rare exceptions, I stopped enjoying poetry written any time after the 18th century.’

The debate is set to continue after the former professor of poetry at Oxford University James Fenton added: ‘Poetry has a large audience in the UK and that’s because it hasn’t been obscure for quite a long time. She’s thinking back, perhaps, to the obscurity of modernism, but there’s been a lot of ink spilled since TS Eliot and Ezra Pound.’

In 1985, Joanna Lumley was on the panel of judges for the Booker Prize.