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Simon Armitage

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Poet

The Resume

    (May 26, 1963- )
    Born in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
    Poet, playwright, and novelist
    Poetry collections include ‘Kid’ (1992), ‘Book of Matches’ (1993), ‘The Dead Sea Poems’ (1995), ‘The Universal Home Doctor’ (2002), ‘Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus the Corduroy Kid’ (2006), ‘Seeing Stars’ (2010), ‘Stanza Stones’ (2013), and ‘Still: A Poetic Response to Photographs of the Somme Battlefield’ (2016)
    Wrote the novels ‘Little Green Man’ (2001) and ‘The White Stuff’ (2004)
    Wrote the plays ‘Eclipse’ (1996) and ‘The Last Days of Troy’ (2014)
    Followed Carol Ann Duffy as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom (May 10, 2019)

Why he might be annoying:

    His explanation for why he majored in geography in college: ‘I was crap at everything else.’
    He admitted that he made his parents nervous when he gave up his day job as a probation officer to write poetry full time.
    He reportedly only became Poet Laureate because Imtiaz Dharker turned the post down.
    His appointment disappointed those who had hoped a person of color would be named Poet Laureate.

Why he might not be annoying:

    Fellow poet George O’Brien called him ‘The first poet of serious artistic intent since Philip Larkin to have achieved popularity.’
    He walked the 264-mile Pennine Way in northern England, giving poetry readings at stops along the way (2010).
    He said, ‘If you’re a poet and nobody reads you, you’ve failed.’
    He donated his salary as Poet Laureate to create a new prize recognizing poems ‘with nature and the environment at their heart.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying