How To Grow Your Own Poem

Some of you may have seen in the news or on Twitter the increasing prominence of the inspirational teacher and poetry guru Kate Clanchy.  Her students have been especially active during lockdown, publishing moving and inspiring works about life during the pandemic.  Follow her on Twitter and you will get a daily offering of one of her students' poems, some of whom have gone on to win national awards.

Check out her Twitter feed here: https://twitter.com/KateClanchy1

She has published a number of books, but her most recent, How to Grow Your Own Poem promises to be both inspirational and to offer you a chance to develop your creative skills at the same time.  The poems in the book are designed to help provoke a rich response in you, the reader, and there are exercises to help you write something of your own.  Why not try it out over the coming weeks?  Please do share your creative efforts with your teachers and remember that the school's creative magazines Areo and Pandaemonium (run by Mr Gardner) are always looking for submissions.

If you're someone who prefers criticism to creativity, perhaps check out Stephen Fry's useful and accessible book, The Ode Less Travelled as an alternative.  You'll learn a lot about literary techniques as well as learning about different ways of constructing your own verse.