Year 12 students take part in Poetry by Heart National Finals

News - Jul 23

"Recently, Alice and I (both Year 12 students) were invited to perform on The Globe stage in London, as part of the national final for the ‘Poetry by Heart’ competition. We performed The Applicant by Sylvia Plath, as part of the ‘freestyle’ category. 

The partnership seemed unlikely; Alice, the A-level English student that she is, perfectly comfortable with both reading and writing poetry, and me, the literature novice who struggled to tell an anaphora from a piece of enjambment. Alice even went to the final just last year, in the classic competition. Mind you, I’ve entered ‘Poetry by Heart’ each year since joining the school, religiously learning my poem, and flatly reciting it in the earnest hope I might make it all the way through my recitation without stumbling. Few times did I manage this. Up to this point, however, I’d never heard of the ‘freestyle’ competition. 

The basic premise is this: do anything and everything on that stage to communicate your poem. You can use costume, make-up, set, props – there were even some people performing with electric guitars on stage. This style of performing poetry felt so different to the classic competition I’d entered before. In exploring the ways that we could build up our set and props, I felt like I was digging a lot deeper into my poem. This definitely gave me a fresh perspective on reading poetry, since I was thinking so much about the best way of communicating the abstract nature of our poem. It started to feel more like a game with the audience, and I thoroughly enjoyed playing. 

On top of being invited to The Globe, Alice and I received free tickets for the current play being put on, Much Ado About Nothing. I must admit that seeing the ‘standing’ tickets we’d been given, I was worried. Our priority, just then, was getting through the evening without one of us collapsing of exhaustion. I must warn you against making the same assumptions I did. Standing there, in the yard, I felt more involved in the action than in any other play I’ve been to. At curtain-up, some of the main characters were cheerily carted onto the stage, clearing a path through the audience. As they went by, one actor shook my hand firmly, and another tossed me an enormous orange (which makes more sense in the context that the play was set in Sicily, famed for its oranges). Through the performance we got to clap along to the songs, cheer and shout. There was even confetti tossed over us for the wedding celebration. Just like the poetry we’d be performing the next day, the production was like a game between the actors and the audience. 

The next morning, as we walked onto the stage with stiff black suits, chalky white face paint, and a dog leash, the audience could only have been left guessing what our poem was; but that’s part of what was so fun - defying people’s expectations. Something that the officials for the competition kept emphasising was this: no matter how many times they may have heard a poem, every single person, from KS2 all the way to KS5, will have their own unique interpretation, and every single one is worth hearing. 

Everyone's performances were such high quality - as the organisers put it, it truly was like experiencing a living anthology of poetry. As well as the poems, there was a fascinating sword fighting demonstration, as well as poetry readings and a Q&A by Simon Armitage and Joseph Coelho (the Waterstones Children's Poet Laureate). We were both dashing around and getting organised with props and costumes for most of the day, but even then, the atmosphere was so electric that I really felt I’d been steeping in poetry. 

I take exclusively STEM subjects at A-level, and yet I’ve found learning a poem, immersing myself in its meaning, and spending a day with English students to be such a (surprisingly) valuable experience. Whatever you feel your ability is, the experience of standing in a Jacobethan theatre and performing something you're genuinely proud of is not one to be passed up. So, choose a poem, learn it by heart, and perform it out loud!” 

Written between Joseph and Alice, Year 12. 

‘Poetry by Heart’ is an annual competition in which students perform poems by heart. With over 4,000 national entries, Rosalia A-E (Y11), Joseph B (Y12) and Alice J (Y12) did a fantastic job in becoming finalists, the second time for Rosalia and Alice. Rosalia’s performances of ‘The Welsh Incident’ and an extract from ‘Paradise Lost’ were intelligent and evocative thanks to her subtle characterisation of the different poetic voices. Joseph and Alice delivered an exciting and dramatic performance of Sylvia Plath’s ‘The Applicant’, which received special praise from Poetry by Heart Co-director, Tim Shortis. Bring on next year’s competition. 

Written by Mr A Hawkes