My earlier poems were sadder than my poems are today, perhaps because I wrote them in confusion or when I was unhappy. But I am not a melancholy person, quite the contrary, no one enjoys laughing more than I do.
Sylvia Plath was just a month and a half older than I, and when she committed suicide I was only 30 - and very shocked and sorry. I never knew her personally.
There is far too much literary criticism of the wrong kind. That is why I never could have survived as an academic.
When everything is for 'fun' nothing is for the good.
Writing in a strict form can surprise you.
Many varieties of sonnet, of course, have been written over the ages.
Looking back at it now, any objective account of my life is bound to read like a cross between 'The Wife of Bath's Tale' and a travel brochure.
Poets these days, like artists and composers, have won for themselves almost unlimited freedom. You can pass yourself off as a painter without being able to draw, as a composer without being conscious of key relationships, and as a poet without making yourself familiar with traditional verse forms.
I've cancelled all my subscriptions to poetry magazines. I prefer to read the 'New Scientist.'
I truly hate marketing promotions, and I don't at all approve of encouraging wannabe poets to write bad poetry.
I never wanted to be a pop star.
