Poetry Live is a series of annual events in venues across the UK where poets perform their poetry for school children studying GCSE level English Literature.

History

Poetry Live has its origins in the Updates conferences which founder Simon Powell organised for A-Level students. Early contributors included

Beryl Bainbridge Dame Beryl Margaret Bainbridge (21 November 1932 – 2 July 2010) was an English writer from Liverpool. She was primarily known for her works of psychological fiction, often macabre tales set among the English working class. Bainbridge won the ...

, Hanif Kureishi,

Martin Amis Martin Louis Amis (born 25 August 1949) is a British novelist, essayist, memoirist, and screenwriter. He is best known for his novels ''Money'' (1984) and ''London Fields'' (1989). He received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his memoir '' ...

, Jim Crace, Andrew Davis,

Doris Lessing Doris May Lessing (; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British-Zimbabwean novelist. She was born to British parents in Iran, where she lived until 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where she remain ...

, Edna O’Brien, Richard Eyre, Willy Russell, Arnold Wesker,

Alan Bleasdale Alan George Bleasdale (born 23 March 1946) is an English screenwriter, best known for social realist drama serials based on the lives of ordinary people. A former teacher, he has written for radio, stage and screen, and has also written novels. ...

Melvyn Bragg Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, (born 6 October 1939), is an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian. He is best known for his work with ITV as editor and presenter of ''The South Bank Show'' (1978–2010), and for the BBC Radio 4 documenta ...

, Germaine Greer, Peter Hall and

Margaret Drabble Dame Margaret Drabble, Lady Holroyd, (born 5 June 1939) is an English biographer, novelist and short story writer. Drabble's books include '' The Millstone'' (1965), which won the following year's John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize, and ''Jer ...

, who performed for audiences of more than 2,000 school children. In later years, the event focussed on poetry, including day-long events with poets such as

Ted Hughes Edward James "Ted" Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest wri ...

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Derek Walcott Sir Derek Alton Walcott (23 January 1930 – 17 March 2017) was a Saint Lucian poet and playwright. He received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. His works include the Homeric epic poem ''Omeros'' (1990), which many critics view "as Walcot ...

James Fenton James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

Tony Harrison Tony Harrison (born 30 April 1937) is an English poet, translator and playwright. He was born in Beeston, Leeds and he received his education in Classics from Leeds Grammar School and Leeds University. He is one of Britain's foremost verse w ...

U A Fanthorpe Ursula Askham Fanthorpe, CBE, FRSL (22 July 1929 – 28 April 2009) was an English poet, who published as U. A. Fanthorpe. Her poetry comments mainly on social issues. Life and work Born in south-east London, Fanthorpe was the daughter of a ju ...

, Benjamin Zephaniah,

Simon Armitage Simon Robert Armitage (born 26 May 1963) is an English poet, playwright, musician and novelist. He was appointed Poet Laureate on 10 May 2019. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds. He has published over 20 collections of poetr ...

Glyn Maxwell Glyn Maxwell (born 1962) is a British poet, playwright, novelist, librettist, and lecturer. Early life Of primarily Welsh heritage — his mother Buddug-Mair Powell (b. 1928) acted in the original stage show of Dylan Thomas's ''Under Milk Wood'' ...

, Gillian Clarke, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Carol Ann Duffy, Liz Lochhead and

Andrew Motion Sir Andrew Motion (born 26 October 1952) is an English poet, novelist, and biographer, who was Poet Laureate from 1999 to 2009. During the period of his laureateship, Motion founded the Poetry Archive, an online resource of poems and audio reco ...

.https://www.nate.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/4-Live-Poets-Live-Poetry.pdf Powell realised that the Updates audience had become 'self-selecting consumers of literature', and theorised that the conferences must reach a younger, broader audience. He created Poetry Live to engage 15-16 year old students with the texts they were being asked to study as part of their

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

English Literature course. The original 1990s Poetry Live tour consisted of 50 events, with an audience of around 75,000 students, and grew to an average audience of 100,000 students a year by 2008.

Cast

The tours consist of a core group of poets reading work from the AQA Poetry Anthology. During the 2009/2010 season the roster included Carol Ann Duffy,

, Gillian Clarke,

John Agard John Agard FRSL (born 21 June 1949 in British Guiana) is an Afro-Guyanese playwright, poet and children's writer, now living in Britain. In 2012, he was selected for the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.

, Imtiaz Dharker,

Grace Nichols Grace Nichols FRSL (born 1950) is a Guyanese poet who moved to Britain in 1977, before which she worked as a teacher and journalist in Guyana. Her first collection, ''I is a Long-Memoried Woman'' (1983), won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize. In D ...

Daljit Nagra Daljit Nagra (born 1966) is a British poet whose debut collection, ''Look We Have Coming to Dover!'' – a title alluding to W. H. Auden's ''Look, Stranger!'', D. H. Lawrence's ''Look! We Have Come Through!'' and by epigraph also to Matthew Arn ...

and Moniza Alvi. The current (2022/2023) roster includes

poet laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...

, Carol Ann Duffy,

, Imtiaz Dharker,

Owen Sheers Owen Sheers (born 20 September 1974) is a Welsh poet, author, playwright and television presenter. He was the first writer in residence to be appointed by any national rugby union team. Early life Owen Sheers was born in Suva, Fiji in 1974, and b ...

and

.{{Cite web , title=Poetry Live! {{! GCSE Events , url=https://poetrylive.net/ , access-date=2022-10-16 , website=Poetry Live! , language=en-US In addition to the regular roster formed of poets from the AQA Anthology, organisers try to introduce an 'outsider' to each year's tour.

Structure

Poetry Live events always involve a reading by each of the featured poets, including an introduction to the piece which asks students to consider the context in which it was written, and teaches them to differentiate between the poetic and non-poetic voice. Following the reading, students are given the opportunity to ask questions about the work. Finally, the examiner sessions are an opportunity for students to receive practical advice about the English Literature GCSE exam from the examiners themselves. The first session teaches the skills needed to interpret and discuss previously-unseen poems that may appear on the exam. The second session teaches students how to compare two poems, a key component of the exam.

Benefits

AQA AQA, formerly the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance, is an awarding body in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It compiles specifications and holds examinations in various subjects at GCSE, AS and A Level and offers vocational qu ...

Chief Examiner Peter Buckroyd said that Poetry Live had a positive effect on GCSE students, identifying the following benefits: * Students have the opportunity to learn that poetry is written consciously and purposefully. * Students learn that poetry is not an archaic art form, and can address contemporary issues. * Students learn that poetry does not have one simple, fixed meaning. Buckroyd stated that these learnings lead to students understanding that 'it's their own response to a poem, backed up by evidence from the poem, that matters and which gets them the higher grades.'

References

British poetry

History

Cast

Structure

Benefits

See also

References