A poet’s perspective

28 Oct 2022

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The International Writers’ Workshop organised by the Faculty of Arts has invited the United Kingdom’s Poet Laureate Mr Simon Armitage to read from his work and share his insights with readers (Photo courtesy of Peter James Millson).

 

Some people may find that writing poetry is a demanding task. But not for Mr Simon Armitage, Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, and the featured writer for the International Writers’ Workshop’s 2022 Distinguished Writers Series. For him, the process of writing a poem starts with daydreaming.

An award-winning poet and renowned author, Mr Armitage read from his work and spoke about his creative process at an online literary reading event this month hosted by HKBU.

On the prerequisites for writing poetry, he said, “I need to daydream. It’s an essential element of writing. You can let your mind drift, jump from one thought to another..., without being sidetracked by logic and rational thoughts.” He added that solitude is also helpful for him to get into a contemplative frame of mind for writing.

The magic of poetry

Dr Emily Chow-Quesada, Assistant Professor of the Department of English Language and Literature, spoke with Mr Armitage. Kicking off the discussion, she asked the poet about the power of poetry to make connections.

“At the core, poetry is really about self-expression. We’re all looking for a way to tell the world how we feel inside, how the world looks to us as an individual,” he answered. “We all have ways of making that self-expression, whether it’s through the arts, the jobs that we do, the car that we drive, the language we use.” When he started reading poetry at school, he discovered his unique mode of expression. “Suddenly there was this connective substance between me and everything else. And that substance was language.”

What poetry can accomplish fascinates him. “There are only 26 letters in the English alphabet…, but if you put them in the right order, you can make extraordinary things happen in somebody else’s head across thousands of miles and hundreds of years. It feels like an act of primitive magic which is still current. A magic that actually works.” From the moment he discovered the power of poetry to create connections, he has used the art form to describe the world he perceives.

Writing as Poet Laureate

His appointment in 2019 as the Poet Laureate has put his work on the national stage in the United Kingdom. When asked whether the public role has influenced the way he writes, he replied: “It’s unusual as a poet to be in a situation where you might feel a sense of obligation to write... But I’ve always liked the challenge of the commissioned poem, which comes with a framework, drags your vocabulary into a different region, and makes demands of your imagination.”

He has also interpreted the Laureateship as an opportunity to engage with topical and news events. “Lockdown” (2020) is his response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and “Resistance” (2022) represents solidarity with those under fire in the invasion of Ukraine. One of his latest poems, “Floral Tribute,” commemorates the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.

“In some ways I’ve really just lengthened my stride with carrying on doing what I’ve always done, which is engineering poems that work in the public domain,” he said, noting that the potential readership of the Laureate poems may be greater and different from that of his previous work. “I like the challenge of trying to do something that still is a representation of my poetic approach and keeps to my standards of writing but also appeals to readers who are not steeped in poetry.”

In addition to the reading and discussion, Mr Armitage shared his insights on writing poetry with HKBU students at a masterclass. The events were part of the Distinguished Writers Series hosted by the International Writers’ Workshop, one of the signature programmes of the Faculty of Arts at HKBU. Each year, the Distinguished Writers Series honours one esteemed international writer who gives a literary reading and discusses works with local writers and readers.