To celebrate Poets' Day today, we recommend five poets that young readers can check out to learn about this world of verses, ballads and odes
Maya Angelou. Pic Courtesy/Marlene Callahan Wallace
British publisher and philanthropist William Sieghart once wrote in a Welsh daily, “I want people to read poetry on the bus, on their way to work, in the street, in school and in the pub.” Believing in the healing power of poetry, he compiled the anthology The Poetry Pharmacy, prescribing poems to readers as one would prescribe a pill for an illness. For Sieghart, a poem provides comfort to its audience in times of joy as well as in despairing times of pain and loneliness. He declared August 21 as National Poet’s Day in the year 1994, stating that there are millions of poets out there. He believed that it was about time their poems were recognised for their power to change lives. To celebrate the day, we’ve curated a list of five poets with diverse writing styles for young readers searching for ways to enter the fascinating world of poetry.
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>> Maya Angelou: Angelou’s poems have become timeless anthems on resilience and help us pick ourselves up in times of adversity. Her words bite, and are equally sassy. Angelou was writing during the Civil Rights Movement in the US against racial segregation and became a key player in amplifying the voices of African Americans. “Out of the huts of history’s shame, I rise,” she wrote. Young readers will find strength and the deep weight of history in her verses.
OUR RECCO: Still, I Rise
>> Vikram Seth: A master of rhythm and rhyme, Seth writes in metrical verses. This makes him stand out in the genre of modern poetry where poets tend to prefer free verse. Because of this quality, a reader's enjoyment is magnified on reading his poems out loud. In his collection of poems,
Beastly Tales from Here and There, he introduces familiar characters from Aesop’s
fables, such as the crocodile and the monkey, or the hare and the tortoise, and spins their narratives around. Seth's humour sets him apart, and the tenderness of his words makes them evergreen.
OUR RECCO: The Hare and the Tortoise
>> Amanda Gorman: In 2021, Gorman, then a 22-year old, became the youngest poet in American history to recite her verses at the inauguration of a US President. Her poem ‘The Hill We Climb’ spoke about hope and looking ahead into the future. She wrote, “There’s always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it.” In her collection Call Us What We Carry, she experiments with spaces and structures within poems, including questions and answers, lists, and diary accounts. Young readers will find her shape poems particularly interesting to read.
OUR RECCO: The Hill We Climb
>> Arundhathi Subramaniam: Subramaniam's measured words speak about the everyday world as she observes it. We encounter poets exchanging visiting cards, grandparents on a garden swing, vendors on Juhu Beach, a nose-digging librarian and a woman in the Bhayandar local with green combs in her hair. Her wit adds to her distinctive style; and the cities, especially Mumbai, come alive through her sharp observations.
OUR RECCO: 5.46, Andheri Local
>> Tishani Doshi: For new readers, Doshi’s writing is a great introduction to poetry that explores the body with all its contradictions. She often returns to her family through poetry; a grandmother who made deer shapes using her fingers or her brother reclining like a baby god watching cartoons. “My grandmother never ate a potato in her life…wore big glasses and enjoyed/diamonds and cards…wore ribbons in her plaits. I miss her even though/it has been long since I knew her.” Doshi’s imagery transports readers right to her home along the Tamil Nadu coastline.
OUR RECCO: Aj, Aged 15
Some more cool poets to check out
>> Meena Kandasamy
>> Mary Oliver
>> Shel Silverstein
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