Tony Harrison

“I'm not the sort of person who reads much about himself.”

“The Greek tragic mask is one of my main metaphors for the role of the poet. The eyes of the tragic mask are always open to witness even the worst, and the mouth is always open to make poetry from it. Neither ever close.”

“I need to look back on my poetic ventures, make sense of them as a whole, and move forward... and to experiment without external demands.”

“I think it's the tendency to want to create gods and monotheistic absolutes and absolute certainties that is the continual temptation in human thought - that's the great danger. Every time we create a god, we diminish humanity.”

“A poem, once it's written, is meant to be read with the inner voice of the person who reads it.”

“It's been an obsession with me from childhood, the horrors of the twentieth century.”

“I wanted to learn Latin and Greek and become a poet and acquire power over language. I only understand this clearly in retrospect, that my ability to study came from a hunger to learn all the resources of articulation.”

“I believe more in the power of drama than in the power of religion.”

“A lot of my activity in the theatre, and even in writing poems, was a kind of retrospective aggro on the English teacher who wouldn't allow me to read poetry aloud.”

“The imagination has its limits, and you have to face up to that.”

“I love being on the road with others, with a camera, but also being alone writing poetry.”

“I have always loved radio as a medium.”

“I hate the anglicanisation of culture, the idea that culture is genteel. It's not genteel.”

“Statues are one of the ways I try to test the traditions of European culture against the most modern destructive forces. I often make a point of seeking them out and have used them as mouthpieces in my film poetry, as with Heinrich Heine in 'The Gaze of the Gorgon.'”

“'Night Mail' belongs quintessentially to the age of steam. It is impossible to simply go with the idea of remaking it.”

“Theatre has to be theatrical. It has to draw attention to itself, like poetry.”

“I often find myself quoting from Victor Hugo after one of my theatrical ventures. 'Now that my play is a failure,' he once said, 'I find I love it all the more.' I first quoted that after 'Square Rounds' at the Olivier in 1992.”

“I'd rather climb Everest than go for a walk in the park.”

“I hate everything about writing except doing it.”

“I spent a lot of time on recce. It is a kind of creative chaos, but I like the sense of creative serendipity.”