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Salford punk poet John Cooper Clarke says former Education Secretary Michael Gove was "right" to support the learning of poetry by rote.

Gove has previously said learning a poem by heart is to "own a great work of art forever".

Cooper Clarke said too much emphasis was now put on meaning behind verse, rather than the sound of language.

He said the poems had "complex emotional issues" that children would not appreciate.

"I know people don't agree with Gove but he's right - learn it off by heart," he said. "It's a phonetic art form".