Poetry by Heart: Poems for Learning and Reciting - Hardcover

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

About the Author

Andrew Motion's most recent collection of poetry is The Cinder Path. He was poet laureate from 1999 to 2009 and is now Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 5--An engaging anthology that encourages children to learn their favorite poems "by heart." In his foreword, Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate, UK, sets the tone: "If we say we know something `by heart', we mean we keep it in our closest and most inward and important place, because it matters so much to us." The more than 100 poems are arranged thematically into nine sections, and each one is ably illustrated by a different artist. Rose Fyleman's "Singing Time" opens the volume on a happy note: "I wake in the morning early/And always, the very first thing,/I poke out my head and I sit up in bed/And I sing and I sing and I sing." Beatrice Schenk de Regniers's "Keep a Poem in Your Pocket" closes it: "Keep a poem in your pocket/and a picture in your head/and you'll never feel lonely/at night when you're in bed." In between is a delightful assortment of classic selections by famous poets, including John Masefield's "Sea Fever," William Blake's "The Tyger," Emily Dickinson's "Morning," and William Shakespeare's "Full Fathom Five." Much-loved children's poets are also represented, including Roald Dahl, Edward Lear, Mary Ann Hoberman, and Judith Viorst. Each carefully selected poem has the potential to connect quietly with children, to encourage them to learn the verse and store it in what Dennis Lee calls "The Secret Place": "There's a place I know inside myself,/Where nobody else can be,/And none of my friends can tell it's there-/Nobody knows but me." The pages are uncrowded, beautifully illustrated, and very inviting.

Lee Bock, Glenbrook School, Pulaski, WI

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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