Poetry by Heart Competition

In order to unlock this badge, students must make a successful entry to the In-School Poetry by Heart competition.  

Students will recite 2 poems by heart, a pre-1914 poem from the Poetry By Heart timeline anthology plus either a post-1914 poem from same anthology or a poem from the Poetry By Heart First World War Showcase.

Poems must be memorised in full and the student must be able to recite them with no more than five minor inaccuracies overall, and a maximum of one major inaccuracy. These are defined as:

• Minor inaccuracies include:
  • Confusing a pronoun (‘he’ instead of ‘she’)
  • Confusing an article (‘a’ instead of ‘the’)
  • Pluralising a word or vice versa (‘kangaroo’ instead of ‘kangaroos’)
  • Replacing a word with a similar word (‘jump’ instead of ‘leap’)
  • Confusing word order (‘pans and pots’ instead of ‘pots and pans’)
  • Missing out a word
  • Repeating a word
  • Adding a word

• Major inaccuracies include:
  • One line out of order
  • Repeating a line
  • Skipping a line, or three or more words in the same line
  • Reversing two stanzas
  • Missing out a stanza

Please note that these criteria have been relaxed slightly from the original poetry by heart badge due to the significant increase in material that students are required to learn.

Students must also show through their performance and expression an understanding of the meaning of the poem. For example, it would be inappropriate to read “Dulce et Decorum Est” in a nursery-rhyme voice.

If victorious in our competition, the winner can recite the same poems at the county contest, or different ones, as long as they meet the selection criteria, and as long as you inform Poetry By Heart of any changes.