Celebrating literary, linguistic and cultural expression through poetry

Poetry is a universal expression of culture and identity, transcending age, gender and race. So says UNESCO. Each year on 21 March, the world joins the global heritage organisation in recognising the “unique ability of poetry to capture the creative spirit of the human mind”.

This World Poetry Day, we share our colleagues' favourite poems as well as key resources on poetry.

Our favourite poems  

On Living by Nazim Hikmet 

I love this poem since I was very little because it reminds me of the joy, passion, simplicity and greatness of life, being a human, a living being. I love it because lots of love flows through it. – Yasemin Aslan, operations manager, Cambridge 

Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep by Mary Elizabeth Frye 

I had never had a favourite poem until last year after my father passed away. A dear family friend shared this on a card and it has since become my favourite poem as it expresses just how my father thought of life. We are spiritual beings having a human experience and death is never the end. – Khanyi Mamba, marketing communications manager, Gauteng 

Mother, any distance greater than a single span by Simon Armitage 

Simon Armitage grew up and lives near Huddersfield, where I also grew up, so I have always felt a connection with his poems. I moved away from family in West Yorkshire to live and work in Cambridge, so the theme of connection with and distance from parents in this poem particularly resonates with me. – Rebekah Johnston, archivist (collections care), Cambridge 

Francesca Lofts, Cambridge-based senior legal counsel, has two favourite poems, which she feels are quite different from each other: 

Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy  

I remember studying Valentine for GCSE English Literature and being moved by the way she expresses herself. Her use of language is so powerful and visceral, and certainly not your usual love poem. As female authors still make up a shamefully small amount of the school curriculum in the UK, I realise now that I was actually very lucky to study her work at the time! 

Paradise Lost by John Milton 

I love Paradise Lost, which I studied for English A-Level.  We only studied Books 1 and 2 for the exams, but I went to extra classes to listen to the rest of it. I was very privileged to have such enthusiastic teachers at school who went the extra mile for us. This poem is a true “epic”, which Milton mostly composed after his eyesight failed and he became blind.  

I am not sure I would recommend reading it, but if you get the chance to listen to it, the language is amazing, and you certainly do not need to be religious to feel the power of Milton’s verse. 

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost 

This poem has grown more meaningful and resonant over time. My introduction to it was at university over thirty years ago, when my country was rediscovering the joys and pains of unbridled democracy.

It captures the uncertainty and doubt that sometimes one is faced when presented with equally appealing choices, and I’ve had plenty come my way. Hindsight is always 20/20 as the saying goes – do not look back in regret, learn and do better in the present.

My journey has not ended and certainly there will be forks in the road ahead. As with the poem’s final stanza, I hope that it would have been a satisfactory journey, that regardless of the road taken I have made a positive difference for myself and for everyone I have met along the way. – Benson Lim, head of business services & operations, Manila 

Another colleague in Cambridge, Johanna Soyars, internal communications & engagement business partner, shares the same favourite poem as Benson:  

There are all kinds of rich passages in this poem that play on its overall meaning, but my taste for it lies in its simple encouragement to take risks, to do something that may not immediately be comfortable, because in the long run, you will likely be thankful for it. There are many people around me who take risks, do something different, be true to who they are – in both small and big ways. I find that so deeply admirable, and I hope that they always look back with fondness at the road they chose and know that their choice had a huge impact on both their personal experience and on the lives of others. 

It Couldn’t Be Done by Edgar Albert Guest 

An inspirational poem that reminds me not everyone shares the same vision and that it is important to challenge assumptions and have fun while doing it!  

It puts me in mind of something I once heard: “We all live on the same planet, but we live in different worlds.” 

If we believe we can achieve our goals, then that is our reality, that is the world we live in, a world where anything is possible and the impossible is just something no one has done yet. – Sha Bilal, continuous improvement lead, Cambridge 

The Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll 

I’m not a big fan of poetry, but one I have always loved is The Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll. My mother is an artist, and she did a series of artworks on it that I remember from my childhood. I also love how the nonsense words still make total sense, just based on their sounds. I still use some of them in my day-to-day speech! – Ingrid Nye, marketing lead, Cape Town 

Instants by Jorge Luis Borges 

This poem does not rhyme and reads more like a list, but it is honest and lays out all the good and joyful moments in life. It is everything we all wish to do more of and a bittersweet reminder to grasp life while we can. ‘Don’t lose the now!’ – Grace Evans, digital content & communications executive, Cambridge 

Search For My Tongue by Sujata Bhatt 

It is all about the anxiety of forgetting your first language when you speak a second language most of the time, and there is some powerful imagery of the language being like a plant dying and then growing strong again. 

I do not share any of the poet’s Indian culture, but it resonates with me a lot because I was brought up as bilingual in French and English and living in the UK means I do not get to speak French as often.  

I first read the poem when I was at school and I have come back to it so many times because the words express exactly how I feel about nurturing my French language and giving it enough space to ‘grow’, and that I never actually forget it because it is always there inside me! – Laurida Harrington-Poireau, teacher resources production manager, Cambridge 

Poems by Maya Angelou 

My favourite poet is Maya Angelou. I love all her work, so it is hard to choose one, but two poems that stand out to me are Phenomenal Women and Still I Rise, which are both from her book And Still I Rise. What I love about these poems, and Maya Angelou’s poems in general, is how vulnerable they are, yet extremely empowering at the same time. I believe this is what makes her work so powerful to me. – Angeline Legaspi, ESL specialist and territory manager, Canada 

Still I Rise captures the human spirit defying oppression on so many levels (class, gender and race), whilst also celebrating the richness of the planet on which we sit and marrying that with the creative power of being a woman. Got to love it! – Tricia Harriss, product manager, Cambridge

Isobel Woodger, subject advisor for English at OCR, has always loved poetry and teaching poetry. Here, she imparts a handful of her favourite poems: 

Flirtation by Rita Dove 

Dove is an incredible poet (and former US Poet Laureate) and there’s something so lovely and moving to me about the simplicity of her language in this poem to evoke that feeling of being a little infatuated. 

To the Woman Crying Uncontrollably in the Next Stall by Kim Addonizio 

I first read this poem online as a teenager from a friend’s blog and, there is something about its commitment to reassurance that I find really comforting. 

June by Alex Dmitrov 

I just think it is a gorgeous poem about one of my favourite cities in the summer, about how full of life a place is.  

Instructions on Not Giving Up by Ada Limon 

A bit like the Addonizio, there is a grudging sort of resilience but also a real sense of joy. A friend of mine knew I loved it and got me a letterpress print of it that’s hanging in my hallway! 

A Small Needful Fact by Ross Gay 

Short poems are really hard to pull off and short poems about something cruel and topical are even harder, but Gay writes with such clarity and kindness that I am always moved.  

Scheherazade by Richard Siken 

Again, another poem I read as a teenager that I just love for its imagery and dreamlike quality, as well as this fine balance between love and fear. 

A couple of 20^th century classics she likes are Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden – “a really gorgeous depiction of parental love, of labour, of a child learning to understand”; and August by Mary Oliver – “it always feels related to the more famous Wild Geese, but speaks to me as a person born in August who spent summers blackberry-picking". 

Resources on poetry 

Children's poet and former USA Poet Laureate, Ken Nesbitt has written a number of poems for our Cambridge Primary Reading Anthologies. For World Poetry Day 2021, he recited My Hat is Dancing on my Head. Watch the recording and learn poetry activities for students in this blog. 

On National Poetry Day in October 2021, our UK exam board, OCR explored some suggestions on encouraging students to view poetry creatively. 

Our Dictionary team recently explored the language we use to talk about poetry, including words such as rhythm, couplets, alliteration and assonance. Discover more words in their blog post. 

We are also highlighting some of our key academic titles on poetry, which includes these books, amongst others: