British Poet Laureate Writes Poem Condemning War in Iraq

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, April 04, 2003

British Poet Laureate Writes Poem Condemning War in Iraq

Britain's poet laureate, Andrew Motion, has broken a tradition for the country's official poets by writing a poem condemning the United States-led war in Iraq, which broke out on March 20.

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Britain's poet laureate, Andrew Motion, has broken a tradition for the country's official poets by writing a poem condemning the United States-led war in Iraq, which broke out on March 20.

After reading the poem titled "Regime Change" on BBC Radio on Thursday, Motion said that from Eden to Babylon, death was cuttinga swathe through one of the cradles of human civilization.

"I wouldn't say this poem is precisely unpatriotic but I would say it is violently opposed to the war," he said.

"Even though my opposition to the war is very vehement, like many other people who are opposed to it, I do nothing but wish well to the troops themselves," he added.

"My underlying feeling is that poetry ought to be part of general life rather than being ghettoized," he said.

It is Motion's second anti-war poem but the first one since US and British coalition forces began fighting in Iraq. He wrote a 30-word poem questioning the motives of war in January.

In Britain, the poet laureate is appointed by Queen Elizabeth'shousehold and traditionally writes nonpolitical poems to commemorate major national and royal events.

Britain has had poet laureates since the mid-17th century and among those on the official poet list were worldwide well-known poets like John Dryden, William Wordsworth and Lord Tennyson.

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