The Poetry Archive launches children’s poetry website

The Poetry Archive, a charity set up by Sir Andrew Motion to preserve digital recordings of poets reading their own work, has set up a website of children’s poems.

The Children's Poetry Archive site, aimed at 6-12 year-olds includes poems read by the poets who wrote them, as well as poems which other people have recorded. It also has a ‘My Archive’ function, allowing visitors to build their own playlists and visitors can search by themes or age group.

Michael Rosen, who is a patron of the new site, said: “Fantastic news! A treasure trove of wonderful poems for children  available all round the clock for anyone and everyone. The magic of audio is that the poems leap from server straight into the ear, so that the rhythms and tones of poems just happen inside our heads. Just think: hundreds of poems and not a question, not a test, not an exam anywhere nearby. Just poems, doing the stuff that poems do, which is entertain, intrigue, engage, mystify, excite or lead us to ponder and wonder in a million different ways.’

Tracey Guiry, director of the site, said: “The benefits of hearing a poet read their own work out loud are profound and children have a natural ear for, and joy in, poetry’s rhythm and meter. The Children’s Poetry Archive will ensure that children’s appetite for poetry will be met for generations to come.”