A Year 11 student from Rosebery School, Epsom, has competed in the national finals of Poetry by Heart at the British Library. Jasmine Helm-Stovell, 16, competed against forty other students from a range of schools across the whole country, including many independent and selective schools. 

Rosebery School have been taking part in this competition since it began 5 years ago. The first stage of the competition takes place in school. Each student must learn and recite, by heart, two poems: one written pre-1914 and one written post-1914. Marks are awarded for voice, understanding, performance and accuracy.  

Jasmine chose to recite Invictus by W.E. Henley and Lights Out by Edward Thomas. As she went on to win the school competition, a video recording of Jasmine’s recitals was uploaded for the county round. Miral Pankhania, also in Year 11, was a very close runner up in the school competition.

The national finals competition was held at the British Library Knowledge Centre in a theatre expertly lit for the occasion.  The judges included Daljit Nagra, a poet whose poem Singh Song is part of the GCSE poetry anthology; Patience Agbabi, Jean Sprackland and Glyn Maxwell, who are all renowned modern British poets. 

There were rounds from eight regional areas of the country. Jasmine was part of the south region. From each round, one student was chosen to compete in the grand final. The student that won the south region, India Douglas from Christ’s Hospital School, Horsham, went on to win the entire competition.

The competition, which is entirely funded by the Department for Education, arranged for all students and chaperones to stay in LSE university accommodation overnight. Everyone also enjoyed a ‘Winners’ Dinner’ where the entertainment involved the poet judges reciting their latest work. 

All students at the weekend were said to be winners, as they had won their county round. Jasmine and her school chaperone, English teacher Mrs Anna Tyler, were treated to goodie bags of poetry books at the end of an amazing weekend.
The competition is open to any student in Years 10-13 and is a fantastic opportunity to foster a love of poetry for poetry’s sake, akin to the somewhat lost oral traditions of the past.

http://www.poetrybyheart.org.uk/

Article supplied by Anna Tyler