LONDON — The centuries-old post of British poet laureate, bard to kings and queens, has been held by William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson and Ted Hughes — but never, until Friday, by a woman.
Carol Ann Duffy said she hesitated before accepting the job, which brings a high public profile and an expectation to rhapsodize about royal weddings, funerals and major state occasions.
In the end, she left the decision to her 13-year-old daughter, Ella: “She said, ‘Yes, mummy, there’s never been a woman.’ ”
Duffy, 53, said poetry “is a place we can go to for comfort, celebration, when we’re in love, when we’re bereaved and sometimes for events that happen to us as a nation.”
Duffy is also the first openly gay poet laureate. She was first considered for the post in 1999.
“I think we’ve all grown up a lot over the past 10 years,” Duffy said.
