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.

Hearing that the same men who brought us 'South Park' were mounting a musical to be called 'The Book of Mormon,' we were tempted to turn away, as from an inevitable massacre.

English poetry begins whenever we decide to say the modern English language begins, and it extends as far as we decide to say that the English language extends.

At somewhere around 10 syllables, the English poetic line is at its most relaxed and manageable.

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".

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

Great poetry does not have to be technically intricate.