Lincoln’s locals gathered in the sunny town centre today to mark ‘National Poetry Day’, Becky Lancashire reports.
National Poetry Day is an annual occasion that joins together poets and poetry fans to celebrate and raise money. In Lincoln, the event was hosted in Speakers’ Corner, began at 9am and continued into the evening.
Mayor of Lincoln, Brent Charlesworth, who took part in the poetry reading, said: “It’s important because the English Language is important” and described poetry as “an expression of people’s lives and experience” and an important part of life, not just in Lincoln, but all over the country.
Many people submitted their poetry into the competition and the winner, who will be chosen as the event draws to a close this evening, will be presented with the title of Poet Laureate of Lincolnshire.
English Language and Literature student Sam, 18, explained how he thinks National Poetry Day is a positive method of expression. “I feel poetry allows feelings and notions to be expressed in a very immortalised way. Very few other formats, scientific or artistic, allow this.
“I think a lot of people attempt to gloss over or ignore problems with our world, but in literature I think there seems a very real desire to confront our feelings, to expose the problems to others so that we don’t have to go on living under the belief that things are the way they are for a reason.”
The National Poetry Society have also been busy tweeting about the events they have been hosting today in celebration of this national event.
Happy #NationalPoetryDay! Loads of events going on all round the country. Hope you're celebrating! http://t.co/lUzcojVfMd
— The Poetry Society (@PoetrySociety) October 2, 2014
The organisation, who have been aiming to promote and encourage poetry appreciation since being founded in 1909, has seen big names such as Simon Schama, John Shrapnel and David Edgar all taking to the camera today to read poetry from the likes of Wordsworth, Hardy and Tennyson.
The Poetry Society has over 4,000 members worldwide and represents British poetry nationally and internationally as well as providing education, performances, readings and competitions for all ages; something that will undoubtedly keep poetry alive within our society, and lead to many more events of this kind in the future.