Poet - Top of the Form!
Carol Ann Duffy was named as the new Poet Laureate by Downing Street. She succeeds Andrew Motion who has held the post for the past ten years. Famous names who have held the post include William Wordsworth (1843-50), John Masefield (1930-67) and more recently, Ted Hughes (1984-99).
Equally famous are some of the people who have refused to accept the post. These poets include Sir Walter Scott (1813), William Morris (1896) and Philip Larkin (1984). So what is it about this position which makes it such a hot potato for some poets? What is a poet laureate?
According to Wikipedia, a Poet Laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for State occasions and other government events. In the UK it is specifically the title of the official poet to the monarch. Poets laureate are appointed by many countries some of which even have a Children’s Laureate or a Student Poet Laureate.
Carol obviously has a string of credits to her name, in a number of different writing genres. Some of her work has found its way into the pages of the GCSE syllabus for Literature. When searching on the Internet for examples of her work I found a couple of really short pieces by the names of “Talent” and also “Stuffed” but the piece which really took my attention was the poem with the very catchy title, “The Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team”.
“The Captain” (to give it a shortened title) is a four verse poem all about the useful and useless knowledge which was required reading for teams which entered this competition - Top of the Form. I remember watching it as a child and as a young parent. This quiz show ran for a total of thirty-eight years from 1948 to 1986 either on radio or TV and sometimes on both. Again, upon researching “Top of the Form” I was reminded of the famous question masters who appeared on the show. Such folk as Bob Holness, Paddy Feeny and Geoffrey Wheeler were household names to the children and parents of that time.
It is very fitting that the quiz show is remembered in this rather erratic poem by our new Poet Laureate and it is perhaps an inspiration to those studying poetry that you can pick the most unusual subject matter for your next piece of work!
Equally famous are some of the people who have refused to accept the post. These poets include Sir Walter Scott (1813), William Morris (1896) and Philip Larkin (1984). So what is it about this position which makes it such a hot potato for some poets? What is a poet laureate?
According to Wikipedia, a Poet Laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for State occasions and other government events. In the UK it is specifically the title of the official poet to the monarch. Poets laureate are appointed by many countries some of which even have a Children’s Laureate or a Student Poet Laureate.
Carol obviously has a string of credits to her name, in a number of different writing genres. Some of her work has found its way into the pages of the GCSE syllabus for Literature. When searching on the Internet for examples of her work I found a couple of really short pieces by the names of “Talent” and also “Stuffed” but the piece which really took my attention was the poem with the very catchy title, “The Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team”.
“The Captain” (to give it a shortened title) is a four verse poem all about the useful and useless knowledge which was required reading for teams which entered this competition - Top of the Form. I remember watching it as a child and as a young parent. This quiz show ran for a total of thirty-eight years from 1948 to 1986 either on radio or TV and sometimes on both. Again, upon researching “Top of the Form” I was reminded of the famous question masters who appeared on the show. Such folk as Bob Holness, Paddy Feeny and Geoffrey Wheeler were household names to the children and parents of that time.
It is very fitting that the quiz show is remembered in this rather erratic poem by our new Poet Laureate and it is perhaps an inspiration to those studying poetry that you can pick the most unusual subject matter for your next piece of work!
Labels: Carol Ann Duffy, poet laureate, Poetry
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