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Government backs drive for young to learn poetry by heart
Department for Education funds contest for schoolchildren to learn and recite verseFrom the 14th century Middle English of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to a 2010 composition by Jacob Sam-La Rose, A...
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What poems do you know by heart?
The government is backing a scheme to get young people to learn poetry. What poems would you recommend, and which can you quote?News of a government drive to encourage learning poetry by heart provoked...
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Letter: Christopher Martin-Jenkins got me into Wisden - as a poet
It was Christopher Martin-Jenkins who got me into Wisden – not, to my regret, as a slow bowler, but as a poet.When he was editor of The Cricketer in the 1980s he published various poems and drawings by...
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Poems on the Underground: copycats and controversies
Poems on the Underground's Judith Chernaik relives her battles with Polo Mints and GreenpeaceI have had to handle quite a few crises during my 25 or so years at the helm of Poems on the Underground....
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How difficult is it to learn a poem by heart?
The government wants children to memorise poetry at school. Our writer joins in by committing a few verses to memory. But it's not easyReading this on mobile? Click here to view the videoMy literary...
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The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin – review
An unusual selection of a surprisingly modern master's workWell, it's taken Pushkin Press 15 years to get round to it, but at last it has published a book by its namesake. "The Queen of Spades" not...
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Gay Cuban-American poet to recite at Obama's inauguration
Richard Blanco will become the first ever Hispanic or homosexual person to read at a president's swearing-inThe award-winning Cuban-American gay poet Richard Blanco is set to become the first ever...
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Valerie Eliot remembered
TS Eliot's widow was no writer herself, but her experience and stories alone establish her literary importanceShe would occasionally come by my Bloomsbury premises after a bibulous Italian lunch with...
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Songs and Sonnets by Paul Muldoon – review
This new dazzling collection of poetry, full of shifting semantics and shrewd allusions, will rock your worldWith its double-sided title, the latest release from poet, professor and occasional rock...
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The Saturday Poem: Meeting Walt, 1959
by George SzirtesThe year of Cuba and Sleeping Beauty, it wasmy third year to heaven in London Primarywith Mrs Haynes on dinner rounds, her summaryjustice a smack with the spoon, reminding usof virtue...
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Lost Robert Burns manuscripts discovered
Original versions of two poems, as well as letter from poet's beloved 'Clarinda'Three long-lost manuscripts by Robert Burns – as well as correspondence between the beloved Scottish author and his...
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Why Faber Voices is well worth shouting about
Seamus Heaney, Ted Hughes and co speak for themselves in 20-minute poetry selections for iPhone and iPadThe biggest cheer on Room 101 the other week came when John Craven said he wanted to banish...
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Poem of the week: Shepherds by Sasha Dugdale
Both modern and ancient, this variation on the pastoral is a poignant meditation on the fate of the South DownsThis week's poem, "Shepherds", gives contemporary resonance to the pastoral elegy. It's by...
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Radio 4 courts controversy with broadcast of Tony Harrison's V
New version of writer's expletive-laden 1980s poem to be broadcast in February as part of celebration of poetryWarning: this story contains offensive languageBBC Radio 4 is likely to prompt one of the...
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Poetry competition winner exposed as plagiarist
Christian Ward's poem 'The Deer at Exmoor' found to be almost identical to poem by Helen MortThe poet Christian Ward has said that he had "no intention of deliberately plagiarising" the work of another...
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Sharon Olds wins TS Eliot poetry prize for Stag's Leap collection on divorce
New York poet unanimous winner of £15,000 prize as judges praise 'grace and chivalry' in her writingA series of poems that describe the sharp grief of divorce and the slow, painful, incremental creep...
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Learning poetry by heart: do you, would you, could you?
The government wants kids to learn poems by heart but is it the best way to appreciate poetry?If you have been keeping your eyes peeled and your ears open recently you may have heard that the...
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How strong emotion summons poetry
Only poetry, sunk deep into our bones, can articulate our most intense momentsI'm excited about reading the TS Eliot Prize shortlist, especially winner Sharon Olds's Stag's Leap. Olds says she "wants a...
View ArticleSharon Olds on transforming life into art – video
In the week when Sharon Olds won the TS Eliot prize with a collection of poems exploring her divorce, she reads from Stag's Leap and discusses how life passes into art
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Poster poems: Crime
A tough challenge for the year's first assignment: please file your reports hereAfter the glories of last year's monthly calendar series, Poster Poems is sticking with things that come in dozens for...
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