You may already enjoy writing poetry. Or perhaps you’ve dipped into it in the past and decided it wasn’t for you. Whatever your starting point, you can always find deeper rewards in poetry.
- Sometimes it’s about the pure enjoyment of language
- Sometimes it’s about exploring new thoughts and ideas
- Sometimes it’s the comfort of recognising a feeling we’ve never quite been able to express ourselves.
Certainly, poetry can raise lots of questions. But don’t let this put you off!
This section gives a taster of different types of poetry, with ideas on how to read them.
We’ve also suggested some books you might like to look out for.
About poetry
Spoken poetry and storytelling were with us long before reading and writing. It’s thought poetry was originally a way of memorising information to pass on to others. As writing developed, so too did poetry, and poetic forms like the epic and the sonnet were established. In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, some poets broke away from these traditional forms and took a more experimental approach.
Poems can have different effects on us. They can entertain us, make us cry, make us see things differently. Some forms of poetry are associated with certain purposes, such as prayers to thank or praise, or limericks to amuse.
Award winning poet, Sir Andrew Motion, describes why he is passionate about poetry
Do you have a favourite poem?
Why not vote for your favourite poem from our showcase of Poems on the Underground? Pick your favourite poem here
