Poetry offers so much pleasure and wisdom, but many of us loathe it because of the way poetry was taught to us at school. Whether or not that was your experience, dip into any of these fabulous websites and (re)discover the joys of reading poetry. Most of these sites also help us learn about the poets who bring us such delights through the skill of putting the right words in the right place on the page.
All Poetry
Describes itself as “home base for poets.” The web’s largest poetry writing group from beginners to experts. Register to browse by category, join a discussion forum, learn to write poems, and more.
Australian Poetry
https://www.australianpoetry.org
The peak national body for poetry in Australia, supporting the “the full breadth of poetry produced in this country. Our role is to represent Australian poetry and its poets, nationally and internationally.”
Australian Poetry Review
http://www.australianpoetryreview.com.au
A blog by prominent poetry critic Martin Duwell featuring essays and reviews on a wide range of Australian poems and poets.
Bartleby
https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/verse/
One of the largest and oldest free full-text collections of verse on the web, with tens of thousands of poems by thousands of authors.
Ours Poetica Playlists
https://www.youtube.com/@ourspoetica/playlists
“Making poetry personal, in the hands of people who love it. New episodes every Tuesday and Friday.” Produced in collaboration with The Poetry Foundation.
Penny’s Poetry Pages
https://pennyspoetry.fandom.com/wiki/Welcome
A free online encyclopedia like Wikipedia, but for poetry. The aim is to create the most comprehensive site on English-language poetry on the Web.
Poem Hunter
Selections of poems arranged by genre, author and popularity, as well as a hand-picked poem a day to inspire you.There’s also a feature that helps you track down poetry quotations.
Poem of the Day
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/poem-of-the-day
One of several portals of the Poetry Foundation. There’s a bit of everything here including poet bios, bibliographies, poems, other works by the poet, articles and references. Established in 2003, the Foundation publishes the journal Poetry.
The Poetry Archive
A website dedicated to the production, acquisition and preservation of recordings of significant poets reading their work aloud.
Poets.org
Produced by the Academy of American Poets, a nonprofit charitable organization. The site was launched in 1996, becoming the first online resource for poems, poets’ biographies, essays about poetry, and materials for K–12 teachers.
Rev Dr Rod Benson is a reader and writer of poetry, an amateur cook, and a minister of the Uniting Church in Australia. He lives in Sydney.
Image source: Adobe Stock
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