Yr 11 & Poetry Live
Tuesday, 3rd February, 2009
Poetry isn't dead, far from it. What with erotic language and the Paddington rail crash feeding the imagination, the Norwich Theatre Royal was alive like never before. About sixty year 11 pupils spent Wednesday 28th January in the theatre, listening to a handful of England’s finest poetry masters; including the likes of Carol Ann Duffy, Imitaz Dharker and John Agard. Unfortunately, we were unable to stay to see Simon Armitage perform as the coach left too early!
Each poet performed a few poems from the AQA GCSE Anthology along with some less well known ones, and even some very newly written ones. Each poet had their own distinctive style and often introduced the poem with the inspiration behind the masterpiece and an interesting story. It was really helpful to get an insight into the stimulation the poets got from the world around them. John Agard was particularly funny, and had a brilliant rapport with the audience. Many of the poets were not as most people had expected them to be, and they delivered their poems in an unexpected way. We were allowed to ask the poets questions after they had finished, and although no one from our school asked anything, some of the questions asked by other schools really made you think.
Included in the readings, we also spent some time listening to a qualified examiner talking to us about the different strategies you should use in an exam and the difference between a good answer and a bad answer.
All in all, the trip was a success and lots of the year elevens felt that the trip helped them to understand their GCSE poems better, and that they were much more prepared.