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. — Tony Harrison Copy Share Image
One of the important things about familiar form and metricality is that it draws attention to the physical nature of language: the spell-binding nature of it and the ceremony of articulation. — Tony Harrison Copy Share Image
For me, there is a paradox in poetry, which is like the paradox in tragedy. You have the most terrible subject, but it's in… — Tony Harrison Copy Share Image
Why shouldn't poetry address what happened yesterday and be published in the newspaper? — Tony Harrison Copy Share Image
I love being on the road with others, with a camera, but also being alone writing poetry. — Tony Harrison Copy Share Image
“Smokers of the world unite! On t'count o' three, all light up, right? 1-2-3... You've all been cowed. I've changed the law and it's… — Tony Harrison Copy Share Image
A lot of my activity in the theatre, and even in writing poems, was a kind of retrospective aggro on the English teacher who… — Tony Harrison Copy Share Image
I hate the anglicanisation of culture, the idea that culture is genteel. It's not genteel. — Tony Harrison Copy Share Image
Not becoming 'something' scares me the most. I just want to be remembered for something great. — Tony Harrison Copy Share Image
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… — Tony Harrison Copy Share Image
There's a kind of despair about whether art can really do anything, but you have to incorporate that despair into the way you work.… — Tony Harrison Copy Share Image
I really admire the great Japanese artists who could change their name three times in a lifetime. You could get rid of one and… — Tony Harrison Copy Share Image
