Start here to explore the Archive through individual poems. You can select
titles, poetic forms or themes, or you can follow a route suggested by one of our
guides. You can also go straight from here to our Education pages, where you'll
find a wealth of information and advice to help you with your studies, or you
can watch one of our interviews with a poet. Don't forget to listen to what's
new, either: the Poetry Archive is always adding new 'historic' voices, as well
as contemporary ones.
Start here to explore the Archive through individual poems. You can select
titles, poetic forms or themes, or you can follow a route suggested by one of our
guides. You can also go straight from here to our Education pages, where you'll
find a wealth of information and advice to help you with your studies, or you
can watch one of our interviews with a poet. Don't forget to listen to what's
new, either: the Poetry Archive is always adding new 'historic' voices, as well
as contemporary ones.
On my initial visit to the Poetry Archive, the historical recordings caught my attention first. I did not know that recordings of Tennyson, for instance, existed. Although some of the following lines were a little indistinct, it was incredibly exciting to hear the opening lines of 'The Charge of the Light Brigade'. Afterwards, I explored the children's section with my kids, and they got all their poetry books out and searched for favourite poets. Then I spent time discovering poets who were new to me.
When you've listened to a poem, press BACK to come back here.
Bring poetry to life in your school! These pages are specially designed to help you and your students to get the most out of the Poetry Archive.
Students
The Poetry Archive is a great place for students to research and learn about poetry.
Librarians
Support and practical ideas to help you and your readers enjoy the Archive.
New to Poetry?
Tips on using the Archive for less confident readers, and for those who are unfamiliar with reading poetry.
This part of the Archive is full of poems chosen specially for children. Meet old favourites and make new discoveries.
Do you like hearing something about how or why the poem was written? Here are poems introduced by the poet.
Do you have a favourite sort of poem, like a haiku, a riddle or a kenning? You can search the Archive by poetic forms.
This part of the Archive is full of poems chosen specially for children. Meet old favourites and make new discoveries.
Browse all poems by form
