Probation officer turned writer Simon Armitage was announced as the new Poet Laureate last night.
The Yorkshire-born poet said he hopes he is not ‘judged on my identity’ as a white man after female British-Pakistani author Imtiaz Dharker turned down the role.
Mr Armitage, 56, succeeds Carol Ann Duffy, the only woman to have held the post, after the Queen approved his appointment for a fixed ten-year term.
Probation officer turned writer Simon Armitage was announced as the new Poet Laureate last night
His poems, distinguished by their accessible, unstuffy and often sardonic style, are popular with adults and children alike, and have long been studied in schools.
It is up to the Poet Laureate to decide whether to produce verse for national occasions or royal events. Asked if he would mark the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s son Archie, Mr Armitage said: ‘I think I’ve missed the boat on that front...
‘It’s been made very clear to me on a number of occasions by several people that that is not one of the conditions of the job. It’s something of a public misconception that that has to happen. I’ve absolutely no idea what I will or won’t write.’
Former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion once described the role as thankless because ‘the poems that result are always likely to be held up for mockery’.
But Mr Armitage said: ‘I’ve drunk from many poisoned chalices in the past... I feel I’ve got enough confidence in myself to keep focused on the work. Living in Yorkshire helps in terms of having space and staying away from some of the distractions.’
Fellow poet Miss Dharker, who was born in Lahore and grew up in Glasgow, refused the position last week.
She said it was a ‘huge honour’ to be considered, but added: ‘I had to weigh the privacy I need to write poems against the demands of a public role. The poems won.’
Mr Armitage said yesterday: ‘I’d hope I won’t be judged automatically on my identity [and] what I’d be judged on is my actions and values.’
Fellow poet Miss Dharker, who was born in Lahore and grew up in Glasgow, refused the position last week
He has a working-class background and was educated at a comprehensive school and polytechnic. He worked as a probation officer in Greater Manchester until 1994 before focusing on his poetry.
‘I’m completely homemade,’ he said. ‘Whatever positions I’ve achieved in poetry... at no point did I ever feel special, chosen or entitled.
'It’s been a slog and I’m not trying to equate that with other people’s experience. But if that can be a useful model for achievement against a certain amount of odds then I hope that’s helpful.’
Mr Armitage said he hopes ‘to build on work of my predecessors with energy and enthusiasm’, promoting poetry, especially within education, and young talent.
One of those predecessors is the late Ted Hughes, who also came from West
