Andrew Motion, FRSL, (born October 26, 1952) is an English poet, novelist and biographer who is the current Poet Laureate. His poems are known for the insightful way in which they explore loss and desolation. The Royal Society of Literature is the senior literary organisation in Britain. External link The Royal Society of Literature Categories: Literature stubs | Literature of the United Kingdom ... October 26 is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 66 days remaining. ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area... A Poet Laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events. ...

Raised in Stisted near Braintree in Essex, he was educated at Radley College. When he was 16, his mother had a riding accident and spent the next ten years in and out of a coma before she died. In the years that followed, he read English at University College, Oxford, and studied the poetry of Edward Thomas for his MLitt. degree. Motion has said that he tried to keep his memory of his mother alive through poetry. Braintree is a town of about 42,393 people and the principal settlement of the Braintree district of Essex in the East of England. ... This article is about the county of Essex in England. ... Mansion, Originally Radley Hall Radley College (St Peters College, Radley) is an English public school situated on the edge of the village of Radley near Abingdon in Oxfordshire. ... College name University College Collegium Magnae Aulae Universitatis Named after Established 1249 Sister College Trinity Hall Master Lord Butler of Brockwell JCR President Peter Surr Undergraduates 420 MCR President Monte MacDiarmid Graduates 144 Homepage Boatclub Crest of University College, Oxford University College (in full, the The Master and Fellows of... Do you mean: Edward Thomas, the English poet, killed at Arras in 1917 Corporal Edward Thomas, who fired the first British shots in World War I This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Andrew Motion is a member of the Arts Council of England and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Beside the prizes mentioned above, he has won the Arvon/Observer Prize, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the Dylan Thomas Prize. He is currently Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London. The Arts Council of England was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales. ... The Royal Society of Literature is the senior literary organisation in Britain. External link The Royal Society of Literature Categories: Literature stubs | Literature of the United Kingdom ... The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize is a British based literary prize. ... ÈLink title This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL) is one of the larger institutions of the University of London. ... The University of London is a university based primarily in London. ...

In 2003, Motion wrote a poem in protest at Invasion of Iraq called "Regime Change;" the poem is told from the third person point of view, showing a speech made by Death in the streets of Iraq. 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses of the term, see Iraq war (disambiguation) The 2003 invasion of Iraq (also called the 2nd or 3rd Persian Gulf War) began on March 20, 2003, when forces belonging primarily to the United States and the United Kingdom invaded Iraq without the explicit backing of the United... In literature and storytelling, a point of view is the related experience of the narrator — not that of the author. ... Death, as a skeleton carrying a scythe, visiting Mort. ...

In 2005 he helped to bring online The Poetry Archive containing both historic and contemporary recordings of poets reciting their own work. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Biography

• 1975: won the Newdigate prize for Oxford undergraduate poetry
• 1976: further poetry published
• 1976 - 1980: taught English at the University of Hull
• 1980 - 1982: edited the Poetry Review
• 1981: wins Arvon international poetry competition with "The Letter"
• 1982: edits, with Blake Morrison, the Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry
• 1982 - 1989: Editorial Director and Poetry Editor at Chatto & Windus
• 1986: The Lamberts wins the Somerset Maugham Award
• 1989: Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia
• 1994: Philip Larkin: A Writer’s Life wins the Whitbread Prize for Biography
• 1999: appointed Poet Laureate for ten years only
• 2003: appointed Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London

• 2003: Wrote this poem as an 'A' side for Prince Williams 21st birthday:

Better stand back Here's an age attack, But the second in line Is dealing with it fine. Sir Roger Newdigates Prize is awarded to students of the University of Oxford for Best Composition in English verse by an undergraduate who has not yet been in attendance at Oxford for four years since his or her date of admittance. ... The Venn Building The University of Hull, also known as Hull University, is an English university located in Hull (or Kingston upon Hull), a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire. ... Poetry Review. ... Blake Morrison is a versatile British author who has published in a wide range of fiction and non-fiction genres. ... The Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry was a poetry anthology edited by Blake Morrison and Andrew Motion, and published in 1982 by Penguin Books. ... Chatto and Windus has been, since 1987, an imprint of Random House, the publishers. ... The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each May by the Society of Authors. ... The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a leading campus university located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, founded as part of the British Governments New Universities programme in the 1960s. ... Book of the Year William Trevor, Felicias Journey Childrens Book Winner: Geraldine McCaughrean, Gold Dust First Novel Winner: Fred DAguiar, The Longest Memory Novel Winner: William Trevor, Felicias Journey Biography Winners: Brenda Maddox, D H Lawrence: The Married Man Poetry Winners: James Fenton, Out of Danger... Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL) is one of the larger institutions of the University of London. ... HRH Prince William of Wales William Arthur Philip Louis His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales (William Arthur Philip Louis Mountbatten-Windsor) (born June 21, 1982) is a member of the British Royal Family, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and first son of Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales. ...

It's a threshold, a gateway, A landmark birthday; It's a turning of the page, A coming of age.

It's a day to celebrate, A destiny, a fate; It's a taking to the wing, A future thing.

Better stand back Here's an age attack, But the second in line Is dealing with it fine.

It's a sign of what's to come, A start, and then some; It's a difference growing, A younger sort of knowing.

It's a childhood gone, A step towards the crown; It's a trigger of change, A stretching of the range.

Better stand back Here's an age attack, But the second in line Is dealing with it fine.

Publications

Note: this list is not complete

• 1972 Goodnestone : a sequence (a series of 18 untitled poems)
• 1978 The Pleasure Steamers - poetry
• 1981 Independence - poetry
• 1986 Elizabeth Bishop (Chatterton Lectures on an English Poet)
• 1987 Natural Causes - poetry
• 1988 Philip Larkin (Contemporary Writers)
• 1989 The Pale Companion - fiction
• 1992 Famous for the Creatures
• 1993 Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life (biography)
• 1995 The Lamberts: George, Constant and Kit (biography)
• 1995 The Price of Everything
• 1997 Salt Water - poetry
• 1998 Keats (biography)
• 1998 Take 20
• 1998 Sarah Raphael: Strip!
• 1999 Selected Poems 1976-1997
• 1999 Babel
• 2000 Wainewright the Poisoner: The Confessions of Thomas Griffiths Wainewright (biographical novel)
• 2002 Public Property (poetry)
• 2003 The Invention of Dr Cake
• 2005 Spring Wedding (poem in honour of the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles)

Dates unclear: The Prince of Wales Feathers. This Heraldic badge of the Heir Apparent is derived from the ostrich feathers borne by Edward, the Black Prince. ... Camilla Parker Bowles (born July 17 1947) was mistress, now girlfriend, of Charles, Prince of Wales. ...

• Secret narratives
• Dangerous play: poems, 1974-1984
• Love in a life
• Firsthand

Edited works / Introductions:

• Thomas Hardy: Selected Poems (Everyman Library) (Editor)
• 1994 New Writing 3 by Andrew Motion, Candice Rodd (Editor) (reprinted '94)
• 1981 Poetry of Edward Thomas
• Verses of the Poets Laureate: From John Dryden to Andrew Motion by Hilary Laurie (Compiler), Andrew Motion (Introduction) (Paperback - September 1999)
• 1982 The Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry by Ed. Blake Morrison and Andrew Motion
• 1981 Selected Poems: William Barnes (Penguin Classics) Andrew Motion (Editor)
• Here to Eternity: An Anthology of Poetry by Andrew Motion (Editor)
• Paper Scissors Stone: New Writing from the MA in Creative Writing at UEA by Andrew Motion (Introduction) (Paperback)
• May Anthology 2002 Poetry and Prose by Andrew Motion (Editor), Nick Cave (Editor) (Paperback)
• The Creative Writing Coursebook: Forty Authors Share Advice and Exercises for Fiction & Poetry by Julia Bell (Editor), Andrew Motion (Foreword)
• The Mays

The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a leading campus university located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, founded as part of the British Governments New Universities programme in the 1960s. ... The Mays Literary Anthology The Mays is an anthology of new writing by students from the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. ...

External links

• An Elegy to HM Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother (see Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon) — at BBC News Online.
• Andrew Motion at www.contemporarywriters.com