Poems on the Underground

The summer set of Poems on the Underground celebrates the power,  the joy and the enduring consolations of music. The ‘sounds and sweet airs’ of Prospero’s magic isle, birdsong, hymns, songs of love and longing, all will be travelling the Tube from June 7th, alongside a new English version of the ‘Ode to Joy’ by Gillian Clarke, National Poet of Wales.

Six poetry posters featuring:

  • ‘Ode to Joy’ (after Schiller) by Gillian Clarke (‘Sing, and sing away the dark…’) Commissioned by Poems on the Underground.
  • Caliban’s lines from The Tempest, by Shakespeare
  • ‘Maire Macrae’s Song’ by Kathleen Raine
  • ‘Harmonica’ by Michael Longley
  • ‘Proud Songsters’ by Thomas Hardy
  • ‘Piano’ by D.H. Lawrence   A tribute to music and memory 
     



The Poetry Society and Poems on the Underground join forces to promote one of Britain's most successful public art projects. As well as being displayed on underground trains throughout the capital, school members of the soicety and subscribers recieve a sets of Poems on the Underground Posters each time they are released.

You can also order individual posters or sets through our shop, we ask for a £3 for an invidual poster or £9.99 for a set in order to cover the storage, handling, postage and packing costs.

Poems are selected by writer Judith Chernaik and poets Gerard Benson and Cicely Herbert. Posters are designed by Tom Davidson.

The tube display is generously funded by London Underground; the programme receives additional support from London Arts and the British Council, with support for Young Poets on the Underground from the Foyle Foundation.