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Explore poetry using our special collections. Curated around specific themes and forms, these collections bring you the wealth of poetry available in the Archive.

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Special Collection

These fine poems, written at different times and from a variety of perspectives, all look hard at the landscapes they enshrine. In doing so, they achieve (at least) two things at the same time. They honour the facts they preserve;…

Special Collection

Sykes Cottages offer the finest handpicked cottage holidays across the UK and Ireland. They have teamed up with us to create this collection of some of the finest classic poets from across UK and Ireland. The poets in this collection…

Guided Tour

“I had the great joy of being part of the creative team for the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympics – a multi-media extravaganza that was streamed, tweeted, favourited and blogged about across the planet. For all its noise and…

Special Collection

The Shakespeare 400 Collection contains recordings of twenty sonnets read by ten major poets. Each poet has chosen a favourite sonnet by Shakespeare and, inspired by that sonnet, has written a new sonnet of their own. Celebrating the work of William Shakespeare on…

Special Collection

Poets have always written poems about love. We have put together a collection of recordings of some of the best classic love poems, introduced and read for you by today’s poets. From Elizabeth Barrett Browning asking “How do I love thee?” to Lord Byron declaring…

Special Collection

The Poetry Archive’s World War Poetry Showcase is based on the collection put together for our national poetry recitation competition, Poetry by Heart, to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War. Of course, there are plenty of anthologies…

Special Collection

Our Mother’s Day Poetry Collection is different from others you may come across as it isn’t focused on poems specifically intended for your mother. What we have done is put together an ensemble of poems inspired by mothers. Amongst these…

Special Collection

The recordings in this collection were selected by National Trust visitors from our Archive collections to celebrate the poetry of the places they love. Poetry expresses and gives voice to the relationships, memories and sense of  well-being which we can…

Special Collection

National Memory Day is an annual celebration of poetry and creative writing for people affected by memory loss. National Memory Day raises awareness of the challenges for families, carers and those living with memory loss face and raises funds to support…

Special Collection

This Special Collection brings together some of the recordings we’ve made over the years with poets from Scotland. Edwin Morgan recorded his reading for the Archive in his flat in Glasgow back in 2000, Douglas Dunn made his Archive recording…

Special Collection

National Poetry Day was founded in 1994 by the charity Forward Arts Foundation, whose mission is to celebrate excellence in poetry and increase its audience National Poetry Day is an annual celebration that inspires people throughout the UK to enjoy, discover and…

Special Collection

The Norton Anthology of Poetry has been in existence for almost fifty years, and during that time the way its audience experiences poetry has changed dramatically. Readers now expect to use their ears as much as their eyes when they encounter…

Special Collection

National Poetry Day, founded by Forward Arts Foundation in 1994, is an annual celebration that inspires people throughout the UK to enjoy, discover and share poems. Everyone is invited to join in, whether by organising events, displays, competitions or by simply posting favourite…

Guided Tour

“I’ve avoided poems that other writers here have recommended, but which otherwise would certainly have been on my list (such as Richard Wilbur’s superb ‘A Barred Owl’, chosen by Andrew Motion). There are also some astonishing recordings in the historical…

Guided Tour

“Since I spend much of my time rooting around in the eighteenth century, this is where I headed first. Hearing poems from long ago brought to life by poets from our own age is peculiarly fascinating. The doubling-up of voices…

Guided Tour

“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…

Guided Tour

“As a secondary schoolteacher in London for the past thirty years, it has been my privilege to have had a job which at its core, involves getting teenagers to fall in love with poetry. I have made my selection for…

Guided Tour

“I really enjoyed listening to all the poems in the Archive. It’s fantastic to hear poets reading their own work. It took me a long time to choose my favourites – I think it would be much easier to choose…

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