Someone read a column of mine and meeting me asked very sincerely What is the practical value of Poetry, Ian?
A cocktail party, where all conversation has to be chopped ruthlessly into innocuous bits of gossip and if any discussion threatens to become interesting the accepted rule is that it must be interrupted – a cocktail party is hardly the occasion to deliver a considered answer to such a question. But I think I might take a little space to try again to explain why poetry has always been one of my greatest passions, why I have always believed that true poets are more important than, say, even the most powerful politician or ruthlessly successful businessman, and why I consider the promotion of poetry, in schools especially, of vital importance.
