Anyone who has sat in the Performing Arts Centre, listening to our poets from Year 7 to Year 13 perform their poems, has felt the magic of the Putney High School Poetry Festival.
From over 500 entries, the English Department has selected 48 overall finalists who have the chance to deliver their poem before an external adjudicator – this year’s judge will be esteemed poet, writer and playwright Clare Pollard.
But why does the Poetry Festival capture the school’s attention and the students’ creativity quite like it does? And why does this literary form inspire such diverse responses?
I think Maya Angelou had it right when she said, ‘‘Poetry can tell us what human beings are…”. The condensed form, the riddling wordplay, and the freedom from constraint allow us to distil human experience, exploring its depths and allowing emotional honesty and catharsis. Poems don’t just say things, they do things.
The anthology of poems created showcases innovation and intellectual curiosity: students play with form, exploring sound, shape, meter, rhyme and voice; they respond to and learn from the vast lineage of poets they’ve explored in class, and they engage critically with craft, where the precision and weight of words magnify meaning.
Their work reveals true Putney intrepidity in their creative fearlessness and bravery in tackling various subjects, often deeply personal and revealing of the very essence of what it means to be human.
Above all, the festival itself, as well as the poetry, demonstrates Putney’s core strength in its inclusivity. The anthology shows that our students feel safe and free to express themselves and their ideas, that they feel heard and validated. Feelings we hope remain with them throughout their lives and onward journeys.