World Poetry Day

As we celebrate World Poetry Day today, it’s important to remember the importance of poetry - the unsung hero of the literary world, and one of the oldest forms of creative writing.

Poetry helps us share our common humanity; revealing to us as individuals that we all share the same questions and feelings. Founded by UNESCO in 1999, World Poetry Day continues each year to promote and encourage oral poetry recitals and the teaching of poetry, so that the art continues to be heard and shared across the world.

Here are some of our favourite poems:

1. If, by Rudyard Kipling - Sound advice to live by, because "Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it."
2. A Red, Red Rose, by Robert Burns - The epitome of romance: "I will luve thee still, my dear, While the sands o' life shall run."
3. I wandered lonely as a cloud, by William Wordsworth - A school favourite that Kumon students examine when looking at interpretation.
4. Jabberwocky, by Lewis Carol - "Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!" A spine-tingling poem!
5. Puppy and I, by A.A. Milne - Simply sweet, as our narrator chooses a path to follow: "I met a Man as I went walking: We got talking, Man and I."

Don't forget, you can find even more great poems on the Kumon Recommend Reading List.

Most of the earliest forms of poetry were forms of ‘epic poem’ (a lengthy narrative work of poetry), some of which date back centuries, to at least 2,000 B.C. It is believed that one of the most famous ancient Greek writers, Homer, wrote the 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey' some time in 850 B.C.

The Ancient Greeks also used poetry in music and theatre. Today, a lot of rap music follows the same structures, rhyme schemes and meters associated with poetry.

Students studying the Kumon English Programme look at poetry as they broaden their reading horizons in some of the higher levels of the programme. The poems explored are also used to highlight figurative language such as metaphor, simile and symbols, and the effect these have on the reader. Students are also asked to examine passages of poetry as they learn how to interpret texts and deepen their understanding of the meanings within texts.

To celebrate the day, why not take this opportunity to read some poetry?