19 September 2008

the ear is the best reader







"When Frost said 'the ear is the best reader' he didn't mean to say that he preferred the fleeting voice to the substantial page, but to give them both equal value, and to remind us how they depended on one another. The point can be proved very easily. A poem creates its effects not simply by sharing an explicable meaning with its reader, but by dramatising that meaning and making it intimate - by the musicality (or not) of the words, by rhythm, by rhyme, by recurring patterns of sound, by disruptions, and by the movement and evolution of tone through a whole piece of work. It is a demonstration of harmonies, in all sorts of ways. More than that, even, the sound of a poem can actually become its meaning"


Andrew Motion (London, 1952), an excerpt from the article Listening to Poetry, published at The Poetry Archive, a comprehensive and expanding archive of recordings of poets reading their own work, available online for free


Further reading:

Classic poets' voices go online (BBC)

Motion cheers online poem archive (BBC)

Andrew Motion celebrates the rise and rise of the Poetry Archive (The Times)

Poetry Archive unveils lost voices (The Guardian)

5 September 2008

poetry submission guidelines

Updated: October 2011






Young British Poets is a new weblog devoted to poetry and short stories. We are the sister site of Young American Poets.

we welcome submissions by poets born on or after july 20, 1972, from all countries in The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Commonwealth of Nations. we do not accept poetry from underaged writers, sorry.

currently, we only accept e-mail submissions, which should be sent to this e-mail address: youngpoetsblog@gmail.com

please send two to six unpublished poems written in English. translations are not acceptable.

contributions are accepted in an ad honorem basis. poetry may include dedication and should be accompanied by full name of the poet, plus birthplace information, year of birth and brief biographical statement.

we ask our contributors to allow three to four weeks for review and a decision.


The Young British Poets Team



disclaimer
by submitting your poetry you acknowledge that the materials offered are your own original work, and agree that they can be posted and archived in this site. you also acknowledge and agree that you grant Young British Poets a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free right and license to reproduce and distribute the submitted materials for usage in any publication, be it electronic, print or otherwise.