Stars from the world of theatre, film and television have been brought together on The Poetry App to breathe life into the works of great poets and we were invited along to take a look.
The Poetry App, created by The Josephine Hart Poetry Foundation, uses technology to make poetry more accessible to the digital generation.
Users can read, listen to or watch a video of well-known names performing the works of 16 great poets – or do all at the same time if they so wish.
The collection of 115 poems are read on the app by over 30 great British actors and actresses including Bafta winner Dominic West of The Wire and Appropriate Adult, Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens, which returns to TV this month, Silent Witness’ Emilia Fox, Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Harold Pinter and songwriter and campaigner Bob Geldof, as well as theatre greats Charles Dance and Juliet Stevenson.
The Poetry App is created in the vision of novelist and long-time poetry evangelist Josephine Hart, who believed that without the works of poetry included on the app, such as those by Auden, Shelley, Kipling, Plath and Keats, “life would be less bearable and infinitely less enjoyable.”
Users can compile their favourites into an online anthology to fill their digital bookcase. If inspired to pen their own verse, The Poetry App allows users to write, record and share their work with poetry appreciators and newcomers, with a simple click; and if they’re suffering from writer’s block, take inspiration from the great poets via collections of words which feature in their poetic masterpieces.
And here is the video of the app in action, along with how the app was made.
This is a really interesting way of getting people interested in poetry.
The Poetry App if free and is available on Android, iPad and iPhone devices and features in the Top 40 book category on the iTunes App store.
Have you tried it yet? Let us know what you think of it by leaving a comment below.
Is any one having trouble with the Josephine Hart Poetry App just now? Mine won’t open and even when it does very few of the features work. When you click on others it jumps straight back to the Ipad desktop. I know that they were upgrading the site to remove bugs but this has been going on for three days now.
I’m having issues too!
It opens and responds tothe “hidden” prompts but all the picture prompts just switch off and return to iPad menu.