By Mrs Everitt (English Teacher)

Congratulations to Ogechi Nwolu (Year 7) on winning the Year 7 Poetry by Heart internal school competition, and on being highly commended by the judges in the national Poetry by Heart competition.

Poetry by Heart is a poetry speaking competition for schools and colleges, open to pupils aged 7-18. As the organisers of the competition say, taking part in Poetry By Heart is all about developing confidence with poetry in an enjoyable, accessible and engaging way.

Ogechi memorised, interpreted and performed I've learned to sing a song of hope by the celebrated African-American poet Georgie Douglas Johnson (1941), and the more sombre but beautiful sonnet ‘Remember’ by Christina Rossetti (1842 – written when the poet was just 19 years old).

Ogechi reflected on her success. “I am so delighted to be highly commended in the competition! I love poetry and it was a really fun and rewarding experience. Out of the two poems I did, Remember by Christina Rossetti was by far my favourite because it’s more beautiful in a sad way. It’s hard to explain, but when I read Remember it was like watching a person on their death bed using their last few breaths to comfort a loved one, telling them to remember her but not grieve as it’s better for them to forget her if it causes them sadness. And despite this being my favourite poem it took ages to memorise.

“The other poem, ‘I’ve learned to sing a song of hope’ by Georgia Douglas Johnson, is more of an uplifting poem talking about how we should ‘laugh away our tears’. I memorised this by turning it into a song, but I don’t recommend this approach because it was hard not to sing the poem when reciting. What’s ironic is how one of my poems was about death and remembering our loved ones and the other is about happiness and saying, ‘goodbye to despair’.