Alexander’s First World War poem offers powerful launch to annual competition

Fifteen-year-old Alexander Rowlands teamed up with poet Imtiaz Dharker to launch this year’s Poetry by Heart competition.

It took place at a special live event in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Shakespeare’s Globe for National Poetry Day, where he performed a poem learned by heart.

Alexander, from Darrick Wood School, Bromley, is one of just twelve young people who were invited to perform at the event and was chosen because his entry to the 2024 Poetry By Heart competition so impressed the judges.

The poem Alexander chose to learn and perform is High Wood by John Stanley Purvis. Written in 1918 the poem envisages a future where a former First World War battleground becomes a tourist attraction.

The poem made a real impact on Alexander. He said. “I’m very interested in World War I and this poem really brings home what happened to so many soldiers – it talks about 8,000 losing their lives – and how their sacrifice was disregarded and wasted.”

Renowned poet Imtiaz Dharker also took part in the launch on National Poetry Day and described Alexander’s performance as “controlled, dramatic and very powerful”, adding “As Alexander knows, once you have learned a poem it doesn’t just live in your head, it lives in your heart for ever and keeps giving new gifts back to you.

“It can mean one thing to you when you are seven, and something quite different when you are 17 or 70. It’s like having a superpower that will stay with you for the rest of your life.”

Established in 2013, Poetry By Heart is open to all schools and colleges in England and in 2024 alone it inspired over 110,000 young people to learn a poem by heart. Over 1,500 schools took part in the competition and there were over 3,000 entries to the competition.

Pictured top: Alexander onstage with Imtiaz Dharker (Picture: Fern Scott / Poetry By Heart)