Friday Headlines
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Spotlight on EHS Poet Laureate
11 February 2022
The role of EHS Poet Laureate was introduced in the 2017-18 academic year. Awarded to a student in the Sixth Form, the accolade aims to shine a light on poetry, raising the profile of this art form amongst the student body. Lujayn, EHS Poet Laureate 2021-22, speaks about the role.
Why poetry
From a young age, I was always drawn to English Literature, both reading and writing. So from performing poems for my LAMDA exams in Prep to writing my own little poems about cats, I’ve actually had a long-standing affection for poetry! However, the more in depth analysis of a wide range of both traditional and modern poetry in GCSE and A Level English has definitely furthered my passion.
Study
I am currently studying English Literature, Spanish and Biology A Levels and also completed an EPQ last year, for which I wrote a dissertation and made a presentation on the effects of certain historical events on the evolution of the Spanish language.
The role
I mainly write or read out poems with relevant themes for significant school events and assemblies, such as at the end of the year or during the Christmas assembly.
I also led the National Poetry Day Assembly in October, reading out poetry and my own poetry based on the year’s theme and also showing a video from the Birmingham Poet Laureate himself, Casey Bailey.
I am really excited to be currently organising a school poetry slam, which is a new event that will hopefully take place next half term. Girls from a number of years will have the opportunity to perform their own poetry in front of an audience in the fun and energised style of the more large scale Poetry Slams that often take place around the world.
Future ambitions
I hope to take my Spanish studies further at university and hopefully within that, explore literature on a more global scale. I would also love to combine this with studies in Arabic, a course that deals with aspects of the cultural and historical significance of Arabic poetry. Maybe as a result I can begin to incorporate other languages into my own poetry too - that would be an exciting challenge!
