Poem Sharing

We meet on Zoom at 10.30 on the third Tuesday of the month.

We each decide on three or four poems that we wish to contribute. Most we read ourselves; for others we use screen-share to listen or watch recordings. Every month there is a theme, and we all search for poems that, however loosely, can fit within that idea.

This is not a scholarly study of poetry but a thoroughly enjoyable swapping of verse that appeals to us.

We plan for a one-hour meeting but often extend the time as there are always plenty of interesting poems. Recent themes have included Nature, Power, and Travel.

One of our members, Kay Edge, produces a wonderful summary after each meeting and has compiled an index listing the hundreds of poems that we have read. Do you have a favourite poem? Click on the link 'Index of Chosen Poems' below to see if we have read it.

Why not send a suggestion for a future meeting?

We would welcome a few new members. So, if you would like to join or even just sit in on a meeting as an observer, please use this link:  Contact a Group Leader  to send a message mentioning POEM SHARING.

Links

Below is a link to a list of all the Group's chosen poems from their very first session in September 2020 up to September 2026

INDEX OF CHOSEN POEMS

Plus Index Revelations - Kay Edge :

The leading poet is – Anonymous (36)! He/she is closely followed by Ted Hughes with 33 and Thomas Hardy on 31. 

In order of ‘modernish’ male poets it’s Seamus Heaney 28, Philip Larkin 24, John Betjeman 21, Robert Frost 18 and Simon Armitage 17. More widely, R.L. Stevenson and Spike Milligan tie on 15 (what an odd pairing) with John Clare scoring 14, most of his chosen in the very early days of our sessions. 

The ‘traditional’ (again male) poets don’t fare as well, apart from Shakespeare 22, Wordsworth 17 and Blake 16; Tennyson has 14, Keats 11, Shelley and Coleridge 8, and Byron a pathetic 3.

The two leading female poets are amazingly close: Wendy Cope 21, Carol Ann Duffy 20.

Also doing well are U.A. Fanthorpe 18, Louise Gluck 16, Emily Dickenson and Christina Rossetti 14, Fleur Adcock and Maya Angelou 12, and Elizabeth Bishop and Sylvia Plath tying with 11. There are lots more women now making an impact: Margaret Attwood and Pam Ayres 10, Stevie Smith 9, Emily Bronte 8, Gillian Clarke 7, with Edna St Vincent Millay, Dorothy Parker, Jackie Kay and Naomi Shihab Nye also featuring, the latter two scoring 4 each and beating Byron!

The person who has chosen the same poem the most is Terry, with R. S. Thomas and ‘A Marriage’ – no fewer than five times. 

The person who has made the most choices is, not surprisingly, Peter Williams!

A handful of poems have been chosen by three of us, but it’s amazing how very many have been picked only once.