of words, of a word

“I think lyric poetry originally is, perhaps is by Sappho, was sung, sung to the lyre; that’s how we have the word ‘lyric.’ Sappho was probably the first poet who sang of the personal rather than of the gods, of the histories. And I think that music, that personal music, that Sappho, and those after her, sang, and then wrote, is still very deep in our English poetry. We do write, as poets, about common things: falling in love, being parents, being bereaved, being angry about politics, caring about our landscape, writing about where we come from, travelling. All these are human activities, and that’s what I mean [by ‘poetry is the music of being human’].”

— Carol Ann Duffy, speaking to Charlotte Higgins on accepting the role of poet laureate, The Guardian