Poetry by Heart: Poems for Learning and Reciting - Hardcover

Motion, Andrew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0241185548 ISBN 13: 9780241185544

Publisher: Viking, 2014

Synopsis

Poetry by Heart - based on the hugely successful nationwide schools competition, 200 magical poems to learn by heart

'The poems we learn stay with us for the rest of our lives. They become personal and invaluable, and what's more they are free gifts - there for the taking' Simon Armitage

Two years ago former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion had the idea of setting up Poetry by Heart - a nationwide annual competition for secondary schools which asked contestants to learn two or three poems and be judged on their recitations, first at school level, then regional, then in a national final held at London's National Portrait Gallery. It's proved a huge success, with hundreds of schools participating in the first year, and numbers up by 20% in the second.

Coinciding with the start of the third year of competition, and published on National Poetry Day whose theme coincidentally in 2014 is Recitation, this Poetry by Heart anthology brings together the pool of poems - 200 altogether - from which contestants make their choices. Specially picked by Motion and his three co-editors, these poems make up a treasure house - of almost-unknown poems and familiar poems from the mainstream; love poems and war poems; funny poems and heartbroken poems; poems that recreate the world we know and poems written on the dark side of the moon. And all chosen with a view to their being recited out loud.

From William Wordsworth to Wilfred Owen, Emily Brontë to Elizabeth Bishop this wonderfully enjoyable anthology will be enjoyed by all ages and includes the best poets from the past to the present day. In a groundbreaking feature, the book includes QR codes which allow readers to use their mobile phones to listen to recordings of the poems - many of them specially recorded by the poets themselves.

Sir Andrew Motion was Poet Laureate from 1999 till 2009, and is Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway College, London. Jean Sprackland'sTilt won the Costa Poetry award in 2008. She is a Reader in Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University. Julie Blake is co-Founder and Director of The Full English, an organization based in Bristol which provides support to teachers of English Literature. Mike Dixon is an educational consultant specializing in English in the classroom.

About this title

Review

Poetry By Heart is an impressive collection of poetry that includes renowned, best-loved sources as well as little-known ones, from anonymous playtime chants to the celebrated poetry of Roald Dahl, Lewis Carol, Edward Lear, WB Yeats, and many others. This compilation, by Liz Attenbrough, a well-known figure in children's books, has a foreword by the poet Laureate Andrew Motion who believes that poetry should be a part of everyday life.

So enjoy the book--that's what it's here for: Enjoyment as well as edification ... --Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion

Some of the poems--the short, quick ones--are easy to learn, while the longer ones, mainly classics, take more learning but once memorised, will be remembered forever. They are cleverly illustrated by several different artists, which helps to bring the imagery of the words to life. --Susan Naylor

"Read the words-see the pictures-create a vivid scene." --Liz Attenbrough

"Sometimes you read a poem that you think must have been written especially for you. When you learn it by heart, it becomes yours." --Back Jacket

Review

The poems we learn stay with us for the rest of our lives. They become personal and invaluable, and what's more they are free gifts - there for the taking (Simon Armitage)

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0241185548
• ISBN 13: 9780241185544
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 576
• Editor: Blake Julie, Sprackland Jean, Dixon Mike, Motion Andrew, Andrew Motion