Poems on the Underground, founded in 1986, is supported by London Underground, Arts Council England and the British Council, which distributes the posters to its offices throughout the world. Poems are selected and the programme administered by the writer Judith Chernaik and poets Gerard Benson and Cicely Herbert. The British Council has supported Poems on the Underground since its inception in 1986.
Poems on the Underground has been the inspiration for similar programmes around the world: in Dublin (on the DART suburban railway) and in Adelaide, Melbourne, New York, Paris, Stuttgart, Sydney, Barcelona, Athens, Moscow, St Petersburg and most recently Shanghai. The UK Poems on the Underground have been displayed in the subway systems of Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm and Vienna. Themes have included European Poetry, Young Poems on the Underground, Commonwealth Poetry, Chinese Poetry, African Poetry and 1,000 Years of Poetry.
The British Council partners Poems on the Underground on the delivery of the overseas Poems on the Undergorund projects. Some examples are: as part of the British Council Brit Lit project in Oporto, Portugal poems were translated into Portuguese and displayed as Poems on the Metro in Oporto when the metro system was launched; in Shanghai the British Council worked with the local metro and UK Poems on the Underground to arrange for poems to be displayed on the metro at its launch while at the same time the posters of the Chinese poems were distributed to UK schools.
The programme goes from strength to strength, with tube card spaces increased by a third to 3,000, thanks to a new association with TfL's Platform for Art. Sister programmes abroad (Paris's Poemes dans le Metro, New York's Poetry in Motion, among many others) continue to flourish.
Streamed Poems on the Underground
Listen to a selection of Poems on the Underground read by the authors and editors.
Poems on the Underground, Gerard Benson, Judith Chernaik and Cicely Herbert (Editors), 2006, ISBN 0752874217. Buy Poems on the Underground CD.
Poems on the Underground -Winter 2008
Poems on the Underground launches its 23rd year with a display of poems by the leading Chinese poets Bei Dao and Yang Lian, with calligraphy by Qu Lei Lei. All three artists were active in the democracy movement in Beijing, and have lived mainly in exile since 1989. Their works passionately explore the theme of exile and the place of art in making sense of a fractured world.
Six poems (on five posters) will be displayed on the Tube from 28 Jan 2008.
Bowl by Elizabeth Cook
The Man with the Blue Guitar (stanza I) by Wallace Stevens
Maple Bridge Night Mooring by the 8th century Tang poet Chang Chi, translated by Gary Snyder; and At Maple Bridge by Gary Snyder
Vase by Yang Lian, translated by John Cayley
Winter Travels by Bei Dao, translated by David Hinton with Yanbing Chen
See Below: Winter 2008 set
Tin Roof by Nii Ayikwei Parkes
Et nous baignerons mon amie by Léopold Sédar Senghor
Inside My Zulu Hut by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali
I Sing of Change by Niyi Osundare
Posters are available to buy from the Poetry Society (Education) or the London Transport Museum (+44 (0)20 7379 6344 for back copies).
Collections of poems previously featured on the Underground can be found in the books New Poems on the Underground 2006 (published by Orion Books), Poems on the Underground and New Poems on the Underground 2004 (both published by Cassell) available from all bookshops.
New Poems on the Underground 2006 Poems on the Underground
Further information on Poems on the Underground can also be found on the Poetry Society website.
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