When we study Shakespeare on the page, for academic purposes, we may require all kinds of help. Generally, we read him in modern spelling and with modern punctuation, and with notes. But any poetry that is performed - from song lyric to tragic speech - must make its point, as it were, without reference back.

One does not become a guru by accident.

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.

What happened to poetry in the twentieth century was that it began to be written for the page.

Great poetry does not have to be technically intricate.

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

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