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World Poetry Day with Viking

Poetry, some people may raise an eyebrow and question whether they like poetry. But, take away the music from most pop songs, and the lyrics could be a poem. Viking asked me to join in their celebration of World Poetry Day, by recreating a piece of my favourite poem. I couldn’t wait to get started!

Caligraphy set from Viking for International Poetry Day

A favourite Poem..

Choosing my favourite poem was quite difficult, there are so many beautiful poems that I have read over the years. I toyed with the poetry of Ted Hughes, Emily Dickinson, Wordsworth, and finally settled on Tennyson. I am still as captivated by Tennyson’s The Lady of Shalott as I was when I first read it aged 14. Who is this woman trapped in a tower, why can she only watch out of the mirror, and what is this weaving she undertakes each day? I had so many thoughts on the poem. I was swept away by the fairytale, the romance, yet there is no happy ending!

The project

As the poem is quite long, and the canvas I was sent to work with quite small, I decided to create something using my favourite lines from the poem. I think the verse I chose really captures the magical, almost ethereal feel of the poem. Now, I’m not hugely artistic, but I had great fun trying out Caligraphy (badly!) and different markers. I realise how little I actually sit down to write these days, and how my writing is not as “pretty” as it once was. I need to make time to write, as there really is something wonderful about using a pen and paper to be creative. So, for the Viking World Poetry Day project here’s what I created;

 

Poetry Day - getting artistic

 

I am now trying to source a mirror and I’m going to try creating a “broken” mirror effect using Sharpies, and then write the same verse onto it..if it’s a success I’ll let you know! If you’d like to learn more about Writing visit the Viking Blog.