Today (Thursday 7th October) we celebrated National Poetry Day. Seven teachers from across the school - from Maths to Classics and Music - shared their favourite poems with us in morning Chapel.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who once resided in Church Street, Calne, suggested that 'Prose is words in their best order; poetry is the best words in the best order.' And we agree, wholeheartedly. Poetry is still vital in today’s world; it tells the truth about life.

For the eye and the ear, poems, traditionally, were only ever heard and therefore sound is a profound part of understanding the nuance of a poem. We listened to the sounds, the rhythm and rhyme, the overall atmosphere of works from as early as 762 B.C (The Iliad) to Canary by Rita Dove (2016) Please see below for the poem chosen by Head of English, Mrs Rebekah Lord, along with links to the other poems selected by staff.



Canary by Rita Dove (2016) - Mrs Rebekah Lord, English
For a spoken version: https://www.poetryinternational.org/pi/poem/29720/auto/0/0/Rita-Dove/Canary/en/tile 

Billie Holiday’s burned voice
had as many shadows as lights,
a mournful candelabra against a sleek piano,
the gardenia her signature under that ruined face.

(Now you’re cooking, drummer to bass,
magic spoon, magic needle.
Take all day if you have to
With your mirror and your bracelet of song.)

Fact is, the invention of women under siege
has been to sharpen love in the service of myth.

If you can’t be free, be a mystery.

L’Horloge, from Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire (1857) – Ms Magali Guillaume, Modern Foreign Languages

Horloge! dieu sinistre, effrayant, impassible,
Dont le doigt nous menace et nous dit: «Souviens-toi!
Les vibrantes Douleurs dans ton coeur plein d'effroi
Se planteront bientôt comme dans une cible;

Le Plaisir vaporeux fuira vers l'horizon
Ainsi qu'une sylphide au fond de la coulisse;
Chaque instant te dévore un morceau du délice
À chaque homme accordé pour toute sa saison.

Trois mille six cents fois par heure, la Seconde
Chuchote: Souviens-toi! — Rapide, avec sa voix
D'insecte, Maintenant dit: Je suis Autrefois,
Et j'ai pompé ta vie avec ma trompe immonde!

Remember! Souviens-toi! prodigue! Esto memor!
(Mon gosier de métal parle toutes les langues.)
Les minutes, mortel folâtre, sont des gangues
Qu'il ne faut pas lâcher sans en extraire l'or!

Souviens-toi que le Temps est un joueur avide
Qui gagne sans tricher, à tout coup! c'est la loi.
Le jour décroît; la nuit augmente; Souviens-toi!
Le gouffre a toujours soif; la clepsydre se vide.

Tantôt sonnera l'heure où le divin Hasard,
Où l'auguste Vertu, ton épouse encor vierge,
Où le Repentir même (oh! la dernière auberge!),
Où tout te dira Meurs, vieux lâche! il est trop tard!»

The Tyger by William Blake (1794) – Mr Stephen Douglas, Mathematics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHRJwIYexKY

Penelope by Carol Ann Duffy (1999) – Mrs Lucy Weeden, Classics
https://genius.com/Carol-ann-duffy-penelope-annotated

A Birthday by Christina Rosetti (1861) – Ms Jemima Palfreyman, Music
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44992/a-birthday

Forgiven by A.A Milne (1927) – Mrs Harrison, Physics
https://allpoetry.com/poem/8518989-Forgiven-by-A.A.-Milne

Auguries of Innocence by William Blake (1863) – Mrs Kimberley Appleyard Pallot, Art
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43650/auguries-of-innocence

The Iliad - Opening of Book 19 by Homer – (762 B.C) – Mrs Sharon Durant, Classics
http://johnstoniatexts.x10host.com/homer/iliad19.htm