Poems on the Underground
If you’ve travelled on the tube at all in the last few years you’re sure to have noticed the Poems on the Underground project.
Back in 1986 writer Judith Chernaik had an idea. She wanted to bring poetry to the masses and what better way to do it than in the dead time when they were travelling?
Of course this was before the days of ipods and free newspapers, and people would be happy to read anything to pass the time – adverts for feminine hygiene products, safety notices, and perhaps even poetry.
Admittedly you cold read a book, but if you’re travelling at peak times there often isn’t enough room to move your arm let alone read.
So, from that point onwards, poetry started appearing alongside the usual adverts in the carriages.
The project was a great success and personally I always found the poems a welcome relief from tediously smug adverts for financial products and car insurance.
If you pop into your local library you might be able to pick up a booklet of the current batch of poems including work from the likes of Oscar Wilde, William Wordsworth, William Blake, John Betjeman and Edward Lear – or maybe not, as people do love free stuff. It even comes with an endorsement from mad uncle Boris.
If you want more, there is a book including three hundred of the poems available here: Poems On The Underground:10th Edition: No. 10
There is more about the Poems on the Underground Project on TFL’s site.
If there was a poem you loved but can’t remember TFL have provided an archive of poems from the project.
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