Poetry Archive

The archive was established as a web-based library to ensure that the oral record of modern poets is not lost, as it has been with writers such as Thomas Hardy, D. H. Lawrence and A. E. Housman whose voices were never recorded, despite the technology being available at the time. Motion has stated "To hear the speed at which a poet reads, to hear their accent, to hear how they inflect their voice, to hear how they create a space around their words - or don't - all add to our using of what the meaning of poem might be." Most of the recordings are created especially for the Archive and these are augmented by some classic poems read by well-known readers. New recordings are regularly added and there is also a download store which allows people to purchase and download audio poetry directly from the website. The project continues to be funded by the National Lottery, government grants and private donors. The current president is Sir Daniel Day-Lewis. The previous president was the late poet Seamus Heaney ==Content==

In May 2019 the Children's Poetry Archive site launched a website designed for children to explore and enjoy As of July 2020, the readings of over 550 poets are available on the two sites, with content searchable by title, author, theme, and form. Historic recordings available on the archive include Alfred Tennyson (recorded by Thomas Edison 1890), Robert Browning (1889), Rudyard Kipling (1921) W. B. Yeats (1932) and Langston Hughes (1955). Contemporary writers include Seamus Heaney, Billy Collins, Carol Ann Duffy and John Ashbery. The work of New Zealand Allen Curnow was recorded shortly before his death in 2001, one of the first to be archived. Cornish poet Charles Causley gave a reading aged 86, in the year before he died in 2003. In 2006 historic readings by Dylan Thomas, Ted Hughes and Walter de la Mare, were added. That same year, the project worked with the BBC to archive rare readings by Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves and Philip Larkin. In 2008 over 60 American recordings were archived on the site, in collaboration with the Poetry Foundation, based in Chicago. Readers include Ted Kooser, Robert Pinsky, and Philip Levine. The archive also includes extensive material for teachers and students, including glossaries, biographies and lesson plans that integrated as a school resource. ==See also==