A really interesting and happy time was when I first went to Florence as a student and studied Italian. I was living in a pensione on an allowance of £40 a month, which was princely. I did a lot of work and enjoyed myself immensely.

The basic rhymes in English are masculine, which is to say that the last syllable of the line is stressed: "lane" rhymes with "pain", but it also rhymes with "urbane" since the last syllable of "urbane" is stressed. "Lane" does not rhyme with "methane".

Babies are not brought by storks and poets are not produced by workshops.

I prefer writing in the mornings, so to that extent I have a routine. I do reading and other things in the afternoon.

The lullaby is the spell whereby the mother attempts to transform herself back from an ogre to a saint.

Nobody really knows whether they are a poet. I knew I was interested from the age of 15.

One does not become a guru by accident.