- Poems on the Underground
Poems on the Underground is a project to bring
poetry to a wider audience by displaying various poems orstanzas on advertising boards across theLondon Underground rapid transit network.History
Launched in 1986, the "Poems on the Underground" programme was the idea of American writer
Judith Chernaik whose aim was to bring poetry to a wider audience. Together with poetsGerard Benson andCicely Herbert , Chernaik selects poems for inclusion in the programme, and London Underground donates space on its fleet of trains.Sponsors for "Poems on the Underground", apart from London Underground itself which assists with artwork and production, include the
Arts Council of England , theBritish Council ,London Arts and thePoetry Society . Some themed projects have also been sponsored by theBritish Tourist Authority and theCommonwealth Institute .The programme
A series of different poems are displayed at any given time, ranging from classical and historical works by famous names such as Blake,
Shakespeare and Shelley, to contemporary and emerging poets from around the world. The displayed works are generally changed three times a year and have proved extremely popular with the travelling public.London Transport began publishing anthologies of "Poems on the Underground" and these have currently reached their tenth edition.
ee also
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London Underground
*Platform for Art External links
* [http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/communityandeducation/2437.aspx Transport for London: Poems on the Underground]
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