The National Poetry Day official website has declared 'games' the theme for the day in 2011: today, October 6th. Has the day received widespread newspaper coverage? This article investigates.
Independent Connects Poetry Day and Olympics
In the article "Words to go with Olympic deeds" (Independent, Oct 6th, 2011), John Walsh framed National Poetry Day and the London 2012 Olympics together.
Walsh reported that Lord Tennyson's words – "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield," will have pride of place in the Athletes' Village. The words are taken from the last line of his "Ulysses" poem. The words have been chosen to fit in with efforts of the athletes taking part, and to provide further encouragement.
The poems of other poets and people will also be featured around the site as part of the 'Winning Words' project. Walsh then discussed the popularity and naturalness of poetry with particular reference to the Betjeman Poetry Competition, which received over 3,000 applications from children.
Guardian Blog Celebrates with Favourite Poets
Searching the Guardian Online the only result for National Poetry Day came from the Teacher Network Blog, where Emma Drury wrote they'd been musing about their favourite poets under the title: It's National Poetry Day.
Drury explained how she had been inspired by the poetry of John Donne when she was in school, and ended the blog with five other lessons ideal for teaching in school, including Carol Ann Duffy's An analysis of Valentine and Mean Time.
BBC Online has Poem by Donny O'Rourke
BBC Online's only result for National Poetry Day today was about Donny O' Rourke's appearance on BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme, and also featured him reading a poem he'd written for National Poetry Day.
There were no results today on the Times, Mail, Telegraph, Sun or Mirror websites at the time of writing (nearly midday, UK).
Steve Jobs Death Coverage Highlights Age of Technology?
While National Poetry Day received very little coverage in the British news, the death of Apple founder, Steve Jobs, received widespread coverage and most of the headlines.
While Jobs was called a genius and visionary by some journalists, there were no such accolades for any current poets in the National Poetry Day coverage.
The above online news articles that did feature National Poetry Day seemed to have felt the need to include it with other stories, as if it was not enough of a topic on its own: Walsh combined it with the Olympics and Betjeman Children's Poetry Competition; Drury also focused on poetry in school, although that was likely because it she was writing in the Teacher Network Blog.
Perhaps this highlights the prominence of technology and visuals over the written word in the current digital age; and poetry is seen by the media as more of an educative tool.
Sources
Independent article on National Poetry Day
Guardian National Poetry Day Coverage
Danny O'Rourke Reading Poetry on BBC Scotland
Marc Latham - Doctor of Philosophy and experienced freelance writer searching for truth and meaning, and reporting it in clear and concise copy.
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