Is it sensible for poetry to be axed or should all pupils be well-versed in it?

I AGREE with Melvyn Bragg: exam regulator Ofqual’s decision to allow schools to drop poetry from the GCSE English literature syllabus (Mail) is a further example that we are becoming a dumbed-down nation. I still remember poems by Browning, Shelley, Keats and Wordsworth learnt many years ago at school. Sir Henry Newbolt’s poem Drake’s Drum sends shivers down my spine. It is an insult to pupils to imply these great works of literature are too challenging.

DAVID MORGAN, Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

I recently retired as a secondary school english teacher and enjoyed teaching poetry to O-level and GcSe student for 40 years. Melvyn Bragg is right: poetry is important and can provide insight and a better understanding of life for many students, even the less able ones. A shared discussion and

gained understanding of a well-written poem with a class of 16-year-olds can be pure joy. However, as of 2016, GCSE students were examined on more poetry than ever before, thanks to Michael Gove’s ‘rigorous reforms’. GCSE has always examined students on either unseen poetry, using analytical skills, or a set selection of poems to be prepared and revised; never before had it been both. Mr Bragg can rest assured that Ofqual’s decision means pupils will be doing the same amount of poetry that was deemed good enough for youngsters in the 50 years before 2016. Those preparing for exams in 2021 need to know they are not facing an impossible workload.

chRiSTine GRahaM, liverpool.

I LEARNED poetry at school and it has proved to be of real benefit over the years, giving inspiration, solace and comfort in difficult times and valuable insights. I have found time and again that a few lines of poetry can convey so much more than all the words I may utter. This was brought home when I helped to form a charity to restore a paupers’ graveyard containing the unmarked and neglected last resting places of inmates of what was once the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum. The key to raising public awareness was a poem in their honour, Two Thousand, Eight Hundred And Sixty One. It was the trigger that led to action and resulted in the creation of a memorial garden of peace. A tribute to those who have gone before, a source of joy to the living and a reminder to us all to care for those who are less fortunate than ourselves. Never underestimate the value of poetry.