National Poetry Day is the annual mass celebration on the first Thursday of October that encourages all to enjoy, discover and share poetry.
This year’s theme is Vision but we have put our own spin of welcome, encouragement and togetherness on this year's theme to welcome you all to the University and we hope that the poems will lift your spirits and fill you with excitement and hope as you begin this year’s journey.
Last year we held a poetry recital in the Sydney Jones Library, the idea for which came from Library Shelver Gerry Clarkson, who put on a wonderful display of original poetry. This year, we are unable to hold a poetry event in-person but we are still offering you a poetry experience to enjoy by sharing poems read by University staff on our Instagram. Contributors include Professor Dame Janet Beer, the University Vice Chancellor; Professor Dinah Birch, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Cultural Engagement and Professor of English Literature; and Phil Sykes, University Librarian. We encourage you to get involved by heading over and watching our poems and if you feel inspired, join us by sharing a poem of your own with us.
If reading poetry is more your thing, we have gathered some resources for you to enjoy. Take a look at the Poetry Foundation’s Poems of Hope and Resilience and the resources put together by the organisers of National Poetry Day. You can also explore the poetry available in our collections via the Library catalogue.
“We Have Not Long To Love” by Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams is better-known as a playwright than a poet. At first reading, this poem shares the same sense of melancholia associated with his plays. But look a little closer. Yes, it explores the knowledge that everything will come to an end, but in a strange way, the very fact that things are transient is what makes them special. Williams relies on the fleeting nature of love, explaining the idea that love, in that moment, must be cherished. Indeed, there is only so much time in life, so life and love must be enjoyed now. If you’re reading this at the start of university, take it from Williams that your student years will be over before you know it, so make the most of all the opportunities presented to you. Carpe diem, indeed.
We have not long to love.
Light does not stay.
The tender things are those
we fold away.
Coarse fabrics are the ones
for common wear.
In silence I have watched you
comb your hair.
Intimate the silence,
dim and warm.
I could but did not, reach
to touch your arm.
I could, but do not, break
that which is still.
(Almost the faintest whisper
would be shrill.)
So moments pass as though
they wished to stay.
We have not long to love.
A night. A day...
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