19 Top Carol Ann Duffy Quotes That Capture Her Unique Perspective On Life

Famous As: Writer

Born On: 1955

Born In: Glasgow, Scotland

Age: 68 Years

Carol Ann Duffy is a renowned Scottish playwright and poet. She is the first female to have been appointed Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom. She was interested in reading and writing poems from the very beginning and got her first poem published at an early age of 15. She served as a poetry critic for ‘The Guardian’ and even worked as an editor for a poetry magazine. Her poem ‘Standing Female Nude’ was well appreciated by the masses and was honored with the ‘Scottish Arts Council Award’. This was followed by ‘Selling Manhattan’ which was another notable work of her career and received the ‘Somerset Maugham Award’. She further published ‘Mean Time’ which was honored with multiple awards including the ‘Forward Poetry Prize’. She went on to write many poetry books which covered various topics like sexism, equality, and birth and were critically appreciated. She even wrote many children’s book, including the ‘The Tear Thief’ which became one of her most popular books. She was honored with various awards including ‘Eric Gregory Award’ for her admired literary works. We bring to you a treasure trove of quotes and thoughts by Carol Ann Duffy which have been extracted from the vast sea of her work, writings, books, poems and interviews. Read on the collection of thoughts and quotations by Carol Ann Duffy.

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Writers

Poets

I like to use simple words, but in a complicated way.

I like to use simple words, but in a complicated way.
Like I
Carol Ann Duffy

You have me like a drawing, erased, coloured in, untitled, signed by your tongue.

You have me like a drawing, erased, coloured in, untitled, signed by your tongue.
You Me Like
Carol Ann Duffy

The stars are filming us for no one.
Carol Ann Duffy

Better off dead than giving in; not taking what you want.

Better off dead than giving in; not taking what you want.
You
Carol Ann Duffy

Mrs Icarus

I'm not the first or the last
to stand on a hillock,
watching the man she married
prove to the world
he's a total, utter, absolute, Grade A pillock.

Mrs Icarus I'm not the first or the last to stand on a hillock, watching the man she married prove to the world he's a total, utter, absolute, Grade A pillock.
Carol Ann Duffy

What will you do now with the gift of your left life?

What will you do now with the gift of your left life?
You Life Will
Carol Ann Duffy

Went to the Zoo, I said to Him- Something about that chimpanzee over there reminds me of you.

Went to the Zoo, I said to Him- Something about that chimpanzee over there reminds me of you.
You Me I
Carol Ann Duffy

She stood upon a continent of ice, which sparkled between sea and sky, endless and dazzling, as though the world kept all its treasure there; a scale which balanced poetry and prayer.

She stood upon a continent of ice, which sparkled between sea and sky, endless and dazzling, as though the world kept all its treasure there; a scale which balanced poetry and prayer.
Carol Ann Duffy

Poets deal in writing about feelings and trying to find the language and images for intense feelings.

Poets deal in writing about feelings and trying to find the language and images for intense feelings.
Trying
Carol Ann Duffy

Poets sing our human music for us.
Music
Carol Ann Duffy

Beauty is fame.
Carol Ann Duffy

Love’s language starts, stops, starts;
the right words flowing or clotting in the heart.

Love’s language starts, stops, starts; the right words flowing or clotting in the heart.
Heart
Carol Ann Duffy

The Latin names of plants blur like belief.

The Latin names of plants blur like belief.
Like Belief
Carol Ann Duffy

I took an axe
To a willow to see how it wept. I took an axe to a salmon
To see how it leapt. I took an axe to the wolf
As he slept.

I took an axe To a willow to see how it wept. I took an axe to a salmon To see how it leapt. I took an axe to the wolf As he slept.
I
Carol Ann Duffy

No jewel hold a candle to the cuckoo spit hung from the blade of grass at your ear. No chandelier see you better lit than here.

No jewel hold a candle to the cuckoo spit hung from the blade of grass at your ear. No chandelier see you better lit than here.
You
Carol Ann Duffy

But life, they said, means life. Dying inside.
The Devil was evil, mad, but I was the Devil's wife
which made me worse. I howled in my cell.
If the Devil is gone then how could this be hell?

But life, they said, means life. Dying inside. The Devil was evil, mad, but I was the Devil's wife which made me worse. I howled in my cell. If the Devil is gone then how could this be hell?
Life Me I
Carol Ann Duffy

Poetry, above all, is a series of intense moments - its power is not in narrative. I'm not dealing with facts, I'm dealing with emotion.

Poetry, above all, is a series of intense moments - its power is not in narrative. I'm not dealing with facts, I'm dealing with emotion.
Power
Carol Ann Duffy

Like the sand and the oyster, it's a creative irritant. In each poem, I'm trying to reveal a truth, so it can't have a fictional beginning.

Like the sand and the oyster, it's a creative irritant. In each poem, I'm trying to reveal a truth, so it can't have a fictional beginning.
Like Trying
Carol Ann Duffy