The Voice...

On this day...American inventor Thomas Edison recorded one of the earliest recordings of the human voice in 1877. Known as the 'Wizard of Menlo Park' for his phonograph invention, Edison used tinfoil and a grooved cylinder to record poor quality sounds. The recordings could only be played several times, and the phonograph was redesigned a decade later by Alexander Graham Bell using wax-coated cardboard cylinders. Yet the occasion of Edison's remarkable breakthrough in 1877, was marked by him reciting 'Mary Had a Little Lamb', which can be heard here.

Although this has obviously had an incredible impact on modern society, the Poetry Archive is one small example of how it has furthered literature. Set up by former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, the site contains recordings of poets reading their own work, including names such as Alfred Lord Tennyson and Seamus Heaney. Motion created it with the thought that any lover of literature is able to gain deeper insight , levels of understanding, and enjoyment by listening to a poem in the voice in which it was composed.

Merwin scoops Laureate role...

America's new Poet Laureate has been announced as W.S. Merwin. The 82-year-old, twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize, will follow in the footsteps of poetic greats Robert Frost and Elizabeth Bishop when he assumes the role later this year. In the 1960s, feeling that he wished his poems to 'evoke the spoken language', Merwin decided to stop using punctuation, one of a series of stylistic features that make his works so different, and thus so brilliant. The head of the Library of Congress's poetry and literature centre even compares Merwin to Wordsworth, stating them both to have been 'passionately interested in the natural world', adding that his works possess a 'nourishing quality'. Merwin himself, who confesses usually to 'like a very quiet life', will assume his post in October for a year, taking over from current holder Kay Ryan.

Harvey's strawberry dream...

Matt Harvey, Wimbledon poet for this year's championship, has released one of his new creations. He 'inflicted' 'Thwok!', starting with the unusual lines 'bounce bounce bounce bounce/ thwackety wackety zingety ping/ hittety backety pingety zang/ wack, thwok, thwack, pok', on some of the early visitors to Henman Hill this morning, relying on their open champagne to ensure a good reception. Yet despite 'Thwok!' perhaps appearing a little desperate for subject matter, Harvey has plenty else to occupy his lines, including such things as 'the umpires, the ball boys and girls, the Boston ivy, the queues....strawberries..and Cliff Richard'. All of Matt Harvey's Wimbledon works, are to be found on the Wimblewords blog daily.

Step aside Cliff Richard....

Wimbledon has appointed its first ever official poet. Matthew Harvey, a lifelong tennis fan, will write a poem for every day of the two-week tournament, and will blog, tweet, and even recite the works to queuing spectators. The idea was proposed by the WImbledon Lawn Tennis Museum and was implemented in conjunction with the Poetry Trust, to create a 'different way of interpreting the championships'. Mr Harvey has already published his first poem as Wimbledon Laureate, called 'Grandest of Slams'.

On this day...

World Poetry Day is celebrated. Declared by UNESCO in 1999, the aim of the day is to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world - in other words, to 'give fresh recognition and impetus to national, regional and international poetry movements'. For many years, the event had been celebrated in October.

Indeed, the latter half of the 20th century saw October 15th as the earmarked day, to coincide with the birthday of epic Roman poet Virgil. As such, many national poetry days are still celebrated in October, such as that of the UK on October 8th. In conjunction with 2010 as the year of biodiversity, this year's theme for World Poetry Day is,  'The Words of Nature, the Nature of Words'.

Carol Ann Duffy meets David Beckham...

Carol Ann Duffy is well known for choosing perhaps more unusual subjects for her poetry. Yet this time, she has gone even further, straying into the nation's favourite pastime with observations about their favourite hero. Yes, it is David Beckham, scarcely out of the tabloid headlines, who has made it into Duffy's latest poem. As the footballing community weeps over his latest injury, a torn achilles that will keep him out of the World Cup, Duffy explores both the mythological background of the achilles, and its current association. Here is 'Achilles' by Carol Ann Duffy:

Myth's river - where his mother 

dipped him, fished him, a 

slippery golden boy flowed on,

his name on its lips. 

Without him, it was prophesied,
they would not take Troy.

Women hid him, concealed him
in girls' sarongs; days of
sweetmeats, spices, silver
songs...

But when Odysseus came, with
an athlete's build, a sword and a
shield, he followed him to the
battlefield, the crowd's roar,

And it was sport, not war, his
charmed foot on the ball...

But then his heel, his heel, his heel...

Literary Live Aid...

In collaboration with 21 fellow poets, laureate Carol Ann Duffy has launched a literary live aid-style event to raise money for victims of the Haiti earthquake. Duffy thought of the idea after following the news coverage of the story, saying; 'it didn't seem enough to do the usual thing and get my credit card out, and I wondered if we could do something bigger than that, and being a poet, a poetry reading was the only thing I could think of.' She added, 'We turn to poetry at intense moments in our lives...it is the perfect art form for public or private grief.' Joining her on Saturday afternoon at Central Hall, will be recent prize winner Christopher Reid, former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, children's poet Roger McGough and Gillian Clarke. Poetry Live for Haiti, aims to raise £20,000.

Philip's talent no Gross exaggeration...

The latest winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry has been announced. Philip Gross beat off competition from Sinead Morrissey and Hugo Williams to succeed Jen Hadfield as the 2009 winner. He was honoured for 'The Water Table', a collection inspired by the Bristol Channel, and one which judging panel chair Simon Armitage said showed 'great clarity and concentration'. The award, founded in 1993 to celebrate the Poetry Book Society and its founder T.S. Eliot, comes with a monetary prize of £15,000; the largest sum awarded in poetry.

English teachers just going through the Motions...

Former Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, has criticised Britain's English teachers for not being 'equipped' to teach poetry. In a stinging attack, he criticised the education system for its 'tick-box' culture, and added, that with less than half of teachers graduating in English, they merely passed on their own anxieties about poetry to their pupils. Instead they were teaching in a manner which equated to, 'add up the similes, spot the alliteration and say something about the verse structure', often using rap or other 'modern' mediums to try to evade the situation. Motion believes this current dearth can be countered by holding national recital poetry contests, teaching and allowing children to understand more challenging poems, and developing imagination even if this can seem daunting. 'After all,' he says, 'Why should we pretend that poetry is always and inevitably easy; it isn't...Get over it'. 

Don Paterson strikes gold...

Scottish poet Don Paterson has become the latest recipient of the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. Created in 1933 by King George V, the Medal is awarded annually by the monarch for a book of verse publihsed in the Commonwealth. Traditionally the award is announced on Shakespeare's supposed birthday, April 23rd; however, this year the poet was named in the 2010 New Year's Honour List. Paterson, who recently won the £10,000 Forward Poetry Prize in October, was awarded the honour for his poetry anthology 'Rain'. Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy chaired the judging panel, and said Paterson's work was 'poetry of bravery and conviction...acutely attuned to the most intimate of human exchanges'. The Medal has previously been won by names such as T.S. Eliot, John Betjeman and W.H. Auden.

Sassoon's Sherston safe and sound...

Cambridge University Library has raised £1.25 million to buy the archive of Siegfried Sassoon. The World War One poet and writer, contemporary of both Robert Graves and Wilfred Owen, is best known for works such as the 'Sherston Trilogy'. The archive includes a manuscript of Sassoon's refusal to return to duty following a serious wound, as well as diaries from his schooldays to war journals. Cambridge, at which Sassoon was an undergraduate, received the documents yesterday after a fundraising campaign which was helped by a £550,000 grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. The collection became available after the death of the poet's son in 2006.

Carol's Christmas...

Commissioned for Chrsitmas, Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, has composed a political poem about the occasion. Commenting on topical issues such as the Cumbrain floods and expenses scandals, she also singles out high profile celebrity figures for their achievements; Joanna Lumley and Fabio Capello to name a few. There has been a trend for seasonal poetry ever since the installation of the first official Poet Laureate, John Dryden, in 1668; the third, Nahum Tate, wrote the Christmas carol, 'While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night'.

This is the first stanza of Duffy's, '12 Days of Christmas':

On the first day of Christmas,

a buzzard on a branch.

In Afghanistan,

no partridge, pear tree;

but my true love sent to me

a card from home.

I sat alone,

crouched in yellow dust,

and traced the grins of my kids

with my thumb.

Somewhere down the line,

for another father, husband,

brother, son, a bullet

with his name on.

Religious approval for Hughes?...

Poet Ted Hughes may be honoured with a plaque in Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner. The Dean of Westminster said that he had received a number of letters persuading him to the cause; a cause supported by fellow poets Seamus Heaney and Andrew Motion. A former Poet Laureate, Hughes is best known for his marriage to Sylvia Plath, whose subsequent suicide in 1963 shocked the literary world. If selected for a plaque, Hughes would be the first since the man he succeeded as Poet Laureate in 1984, John Betjeman; and would join the likes of Thomas Hardy, William Blake and T.S. Eliot. Hughes died in 1998, and is described by Heaney as 'one of the vital presences in 20th century poetry.'

A walk in the park...

This day also celebrates a more obscure anniversary. 1797 saw Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth embark on a walking holiday in Quantock Hills in Somerset; a holiday which would produce Coleridge's most famous work, 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'. Their original idea was to create a piece of work which would provide immediate commercial success to pay for their trip, preferrably something gothic to be included in popular magazines. However, Wordsworth stated that their styles 'would not assimilate', and so it was left to Coleridge to finish the work. Five months of work produced a finished article, and 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' was published in 'Lyrical Ballads' in 1798. Far from being a immediate bestseller, Coleridge's poem was criticised for being obscure and difficult to read, leading to a revised edition in 1815 in which he added marginal notes, glossing the text. The poem was succeeded by another of Coleridge's great works, 'Christabel'.

Apology for the life of...

Today also marks the death of English poet Colley Cibber, in 1757, at the age of 86. A playwright by first profession, he spent much of his time adapting plays from various sources and getting highly criticied for doing do; critics calling it a 'miserable mutilaiton' of 'hapless Shakespeare'. He fared no better in acting himself, frequently getting ridiculed for his attempts. To complete the trend in his literary career, his poetry was equally bad, having no admirers in his own time and his appointment as Poet Laureate in 1730 thought to be purely political. Although he certainly made some impact, the title of his most famous work, his autobiography 'Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber' is arguably all that is needed when assessing the success of his career.

Shakespeare the plagiarist?...

Former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, has been accused of plagiarising another author's work for his latest poem. 'An Equal Voice', was published in The Guardian newspaper on the eve of Rememberance Sunday as a tribute to war veterans; Motion describing it as 'stitching together the voices of shell-shocked people'. Yet Ben Shephard, author of 'The War of Nerves', claims Motion has in fact 'stitched together 17 passages from his book'; 'of the 152 lines...all but 16 are taken from 'A War of Nerves'...there's a word for this...it begins with 'p' and it isn't poetry.' Motion has hit back, maintaining there is a long tradition of 'found poetry'. He uses the example of Shakespeare's play 'Anthony and Cleopatra', which borrows large passages from Sir Thomas North's 'Life of Mark Anthony'. The dispute is likely to run on for some time.

On this day...

Arguably one of the most famous English poets in history, John Keats, was born in 1795. Although his work was not well received in his lifetime, Keats, together with Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, is now cited as the one of the cornerstones of the romantic movement in poetry; his works going on to influence and inspire such poets as Alfred Lord Tennyson and Wilfred Owen. Yet his life was tragically short. Soon after his brother Tom died from tuberculosis, Keats himself began to show symptoms of the disease. In 1820, with the signs becoming more pronounced, Keats left for Italy with his friend Joseph Severn. He died in 1821, in a house on the Spainish Steps in Rome, now the Keats-Shelley Memorial House, where works, correspondence and original furniture remain. Known for his florid description and rich imagery, Keats most famous works are 'Ode to a Nightingale' and 'Endymion'. His death inspired another great work, 'Adonis', by Shelley.

Inspirations of Balklava...

This day also saw the 1854 Crimean War battle in Balaklava, during which 250 men were killed or wounded and 400 horses were lost. When Alfred Lord Tennyson read a report of the incident, in The Times five weeks later, he wrote 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' , most famous for the lines: 'Theirs not to make reply/Theirs not to reason why/Theirs but to do and die'. Yet his interest in the Balaklavan soldiers did not stop there; some years later, a charity drive was undertaken to provide money to the surviors, many of whom were destitute. Tennyson wrote 'The Charge of the Heavy Brigade' to galvanise support, but much of the money raised was given by the politicians to other causes. This prompted Rudyard Kipling to write 'The Last of the Light Brigade', to reveal the scandal to the public.

Poets against war...

Following on from Levertov, poetry has been, and always will be, a method through which people protest against injustices in the world. From Mazisi Kunene, an anti-apartheid poet, to Siegfried Sassoon, famous for his satrical anti-war poetry, many have written to expose these situations to the public, attempting to counter apathy and rally people to their cause. Although many believe that this type of protest belongs to the 20th century, it is still being used today against the injustices of a modern society. The 'Poets Against War' society, contains contemporary poetry from members of the public about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, showing that everyone has the capacity to write, and anyone can change the world through it.

Eliot the nation's favourite poet...

Earlier this year, the BBC launched a Poetry Season, aimed to encourage wider interest and engage a new generation of readers. Highlights, and information on both poems and poets can be found on their website here. To coincide with this, they also ran a public vote to decide the nation's favourite poet. With more than 18, 000 votes cast, T.S. Eliot came out the winner, John Donne second, and Benjamin Zephaniah third. All three, although different eras and styles, are recognised for their highly influential works; 'The Waste Land', 'Holy Sonnet X' and 'Dis Poetry' respectively.