Reimagine classic poetry
Our poetic philosophy
The Poetry Hour wants to take over the world. With the firm belief that poetry can be for everyone, we have created an online poetic place like no other. Design wise, thanks to This Place we’re pretty confident that we’ve already built the perfect place for poetry on the web, but without some friends we’ll just be sitting pretty – this is a site for anybody - from poetry pros to those who’s lives are completely void of verse. With meme creation, video content, celebrities and, of course, incredible poets and poetry, this was a site made for the world, by a bunch of people who are passionate about poetry and the importance it has within today’s technology lead landscape.
Our Work in Schools
Over the past three years we’ve travelled the length and breathe of the country, creating all sorts of poetry with young people. In continuing our dedication to poetry education, we offer a number of different (completely free!) workshops for Charities, Schools and Universities, ranging from using poetry as a therapeutic tool, to interactive sessions, to in-depth lectures. Please contact our education team for a chat about how we can work together.
Our Poetry Films
The creation of Poetry Films stands as the next logical way in which we consume verse, and this is why we’re so committed to its expansion. In short, we want to recontextualize classic poetry for a modern audience. We’ve already commissioned a number of video pieces; stretching talents from animations, to student dance projects, which you can find around the site. If you have a poetry film idea you would like to talk to us about, we would love to hear it – lets collaborate!
So, What's with our name?
Before we existed digitally, Josephine Hart’s Poetry Hour events at The British Library in London (which we still hold today, come along!), set out to change the way people perceived poetry. The basic purpose of our Josephine Hart Poetry Hours, as Josephine herself described them is: “A public performance of the great poetry of the dead poets read by great actors should be the norm in London”.
The ideology of the Poetry Hour events can be expressed in three, simple parts:
First, the life of the poet
Second, the poets read aloud
And third, poetry read by great actors
All the content from these events can be found on this site – so whether you’re into Freddie Fox, Lisa Dwan or Roger Moore, you can watch and listen to our library of incredible narrators as they read the works of their favourite poets.
The Josephine Hart Poetry Foundation
The Poetry Hour project is a part of The Josephine Hart Poetry Foundation. The Josephine Hart Poetry Foundation is a registered Charity with the Charity Commission No.1145062. It was set up to further the advancement of arts and culture, and the advancement of education, with a focus on poetry, literature and dramatic performance.
