National Poetry Day Assembly

Posted: 4th October 2024

This year, the theme for National Poetry Day was ‘counting,’ and members of Channing’s Year 13 Literary Society embraced the opportunity to delve into various poems connected to this concept. We were particularly eager to emphasize the power and relevance of poetry in a modern world where it may not always receive the recognition it deserves. In our view, poetry holds tremendous value in its ability to evoke emotion, provoke thought, and resonate with diverse experiences. Through our exploration of the theme, we wanted to highlight how poetry can mean different things to different people, depending on their interpretation and personal connection to the subject.

Each member of the Literary Society approached the prompt of ‘counting’ in a unique way. Some explored poems that focused on the theme of counting on people and relationships, others examined poems dealing with the passing of time, deadlines, and dates, while still others chose to focus on poems about money, numbers, and numerical concepts. This variety of interpretations helped to spark lively debates and discussions about the poems we had chosen, allowing us to dive deeper into their meaning and significance. As Salman Rushdie once said, “a poet’s work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.” We certainly felt this energy during our discussions and sought to embody this spirit through our analysis of the poems.

Some of the works we researched included Janice Mirikitani’s poignant ‘For a Daughter Who Leaves’ and Sylvia Plath’s thought-provoking ‘Sonnet to Time.’ We thoroughly enjoyed sharing these poems and hope our assembly fostered a renewed passion for poetry within the Channing community. A special thanks to Ms. Grierson for making this assembly possible. You can find out more about the poems we discussed here.

Categories: Uncategorised