Poetry matters. Reciting poems together is hugely beneficial to all of us. Learning poetry is joyful and fun, it also has the power to educate us, enrich us and lift us. It has a way of describing us to ourselves; you only needed to hear the poems being created and shared after the death of HRH The Queen to truly know the power of poetry to articulate how we feel at any given moment.
Broadcaster and poetry champion Gyles Brandreth discovered some of the amazing benefits of learning and reciting poetry a few years ago. While doing some research on human memory for a radio programme he was making, Gyles spoke to a professor at Cambridge University about the impact of learning poems off by heart has on brain function.
“Poetry Together aims to bring young and old people together through the joy of performing poetry.”
He discovered that learning things by heart is excellent for keeping the older brain active but there is also evidence that babies and small children who regularly hear poems and rhymes are quicker to speak, to read and to write. Learning poetry benefits memory, speech and confidence at any time of our lives.
This led Gyles to set up a wonderful initiative called Poetry Together which aims to bring young people and old people together through the joy of performing poetry together. I was captured by his idea after discussing it with him when we bumped into each other at a school prize-giving which led Dukes Education to support this fantastic project. I am very proud that Dukes Education has supported Poetry Together for the last three years, enabling the project to grow each year and reach more people across the UK and around the world.
The premise of Poetry Together is very simple, schools and care homes can sign up at www.poetrytogether.com. They then partner with a local school or care home in their area, learn a poem separately and come together in or around National Poetry Day in early October to recite the poem together and celebrate with tea and cake.
“There are huge social benefits in bringing young and old together in a shared activity.”
Last year more than 400 schools and care homes around the world took part in Poetry Together and we held a fantastic event at the Royal Geographical Society in London last November with HRH The Queen Consort in attendance. She has always been a big supporter of Poetry Together.
There are huge social benefits in bringing young and old together in a shared activity within a community as well as keeping the “synapses snapping” as Gyles puts it. As a lifelong learner, as a dyslexic who didn’t read until I was in my 20s but as someone who benefited hugely from the nourishing effect of poetry as a child, this cause resonates deeply with me.
Our aim at Dukes is to give every child in our care an extraordinary education. To give them a rich academic inheritance to take with them beyond school, but more than that we want them to become lifelong learners and engaging with poetry, memorising it and sharing it aloud within our communities is a very much part of the cultural capital we want each child to gain during their time at Dukes.
“Engaging with and memorising poetry is a part of the cultural capital we want each child to gain.”
This year, as part of Poetry Together 2022, we have the added incitement of a poetry-writing competition. The lucky winners – selected by Gyles, Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho and award-winning author and poet Lucy Cuthew – will get the chance to recite their own compositions on national TV alongside Gyles in mid-November.
We want to do everything we can to ensure that as many school students and elderly people in the UK and around the world get a chance to enjoy the social, physical and wellbeing benefits of reciting poetry together.
For more info and to enter the competition, please visit: www.poetrytogether.com