Where To Find Poetry On The Underground in London, New York, Paris, Shanghai - post 7847

 

Poetry on the underground started in London, England and spread to New York, Paris, Moscow and Shanghai. 

I picked up a leaflet of poems advertising the book of them which you can buy.

The latest version of the book is available for about thirteen uk pounds (plus postage if you are not a prime member) from Amazon.

Second-hand copies of older versions are available at about three pounds or more from Awesome books, ebay and others.

One of several editions of Poems on the Underground. From Wikipedia.

Poems About The Underground

I was surprised to find that poems on the underground were used to entertain travellers on the underground with poetry, both classical and modern, on universal themes such as love, rather than poems about the underground.

Poem About The Underground

By Irish poem Seamus Healey

Poem about the UK overground, London to Scotland, commissioned by the railway company pre second world war.

Night Mail by W H Ausen 1936 has the rhythm of the train. This is the first line

'This is the night mail crossing the border ...'

In the USA Poetry In Motion has produced poems in New York city, Washington DC, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Nashville and more cities, as you can see on the Poetry Society website.

You cn also buy books by featured famous American poets.

China

Chinese poems translated into English have appeared on London underground.

In 2017 The British Council organized poems in the English language in Shanghai and other major Chinese cities, as well as English poems translated into Chinese and Chinese poems translated into English..

FRANCE

Back in 1912 Ezra Pound wrote a poem about the Paris Metro, entitled 

In A Station Of The Mero.

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

My favourite poem about the Overground is Auden's. I've written my own poem about the underground.

 Brunel statue, Paddington station.

The trains are travelling round and round

The underground with their roar-in sound

The passengers are running up and down

The escalators to the underground

I love the hand-written signs

Which joke and meet and greet

And the kind souls who smile

And keenly offer me their seat

The posters give me information

Something new on every station

There's Sherlock Holmes, and Shakespeare, too

The Elizabeth line which shines brand new

With lifts which keep grandma beside

As escalator passengers ride

The safe glass doors, wide corridors

One of London's new joys for sure.

When overhead you might see rain

Waiting for buses in cold's a pain

Brunel's statue on the overground

Even more to see if you take the lift down.

Sherlock wears a deerstalker hat

I wonder if he has a map?

I'm sure he'll smile and never frown

If he finds himself on the Underground.

-ends-

Useful Websites

UK

poemsontheunderground.org

tfl.gov.uk/poems

https://arts.britishcouncil.org/projects/poems-underground

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Poems-Underground

USA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry_in_Motion_(arts_program)

https://poetrysociety.org/poetry-in-motion

https://poetrysociety.org/poetry-in-motion/all

CHINA

https://www.britishcouncil.cn/en/about/press/british-council-launches-poetry-metro-five-chinese-cities

FRANCE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_a_Station_of_the_Metro

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