“Sheer Poetry!”

Sheerpoetry.co.uk was originally set up as a subscription only site. In February 2010, we opened the gates wide and allowed free access to all the content on the site.

We hope you enjoyed the poetry and analysis that we've collated and commissioned over the years.

However, In order to keep expanding Sheerpoetry and to pay for future development, we're rebuilding the site to allow subscription only access.

For only £12 a year, you will get access to all the resources available on Sheerpoetry, and new articles are already being commissioned for the launch.

We've added an interview with Jane Weir, author of 'Poppies', as featured in the Conflict cluster of the AQA GCSE Syllabus. She discusses the way that her work as a textile designer influences her writing and how it can be seen in the poem.

Jane Weir interviewed by Luca Brancati

As broadcast on the Today programme on Radio 4 earlier this week, we feature the poem Silver Lining by Carol Ann Duffy. The UK Poet Laureate responds to the impact of the volcanic ash from Iceland which has grounded air traffic throughout the northern hemisphere.

Owen Sheers writes about his experience visiting the First World War battlefield in Mametz, France and what inspired him to create the poem named after the site.

Read Mametz Wood in the GCSE section.

Written in response to the news that celebrated English footballer David Beckham would not be able to play for England in 2010 due to an injured Achilles heel, and first published in Carol Ann Duffy's column in the Daily Mirror, you can now read Achilles in the General Reader.

We're pleased to welcome Robert Minhinnick, another writer whose work features in the GCSE section.

He has written on the background to the poem 'The Yellow Palm' and discusses his design and intention for its style in the The Yellow Palm in the GSCE section.

We'e thrilled to have Daljit Nagra on board, and he has written about the background to his poem Singh Song! for our GCSE section. He offers his insights on the Indian corner shop, and the impact of the English Music Hall tradition.

You can read what Daljit Nagra has to say in Singh Song!.

For St Valentine’s Day, Carol Ann Duffy has written a new article about the love poetry which has inspired and enthralled poets and their audience for thousands of years, exclusively for Sheer Poetry.

You can find the article in the Carol Ann Duffy section of the General Reader: Love Poetry.

Delayed due to the rebuilding of the site, we now publish another entry in Gillian Clarke's Journal in the General Reader. Written during the closing weeks of 2009, her theme is the swan and its significance in her poetry.

“For a year I have observed a family of mute swans. I haven’t see them every day, or even every week, but I have watched them at regular intervals throughout one year of their lives on the river Ely, in Cardiff.”

All Lost Things Lie Under Closing Water

Sheerpoetry.co.uk is now fully accessible without subscription from today.

This means that you no longer need to log in to read hundreds of pages on the poetry of Gillian Clarke, Carol Ann Duffy, Simon Armitage, Seamus Heaney and others.

If you want to add a comment to any of the pages or use the new forum which we will be setting up shortly, you will still need to register and create a new account.