Coronation: poems

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Continue your English poetry odyssey with Philip Larkin’s best poems, the best Gerard Manley Hopkins poems, and the best poems of the First World War. The Coronation Concert, watched in more than 100 countries around the world, brought global music icons and contemporary stars together in celebration of the historic occasion of the Coronation of His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen Consort. Prof Nagra's poem followed a rendition of God Save The King. At all times, East Cambridgeshire District Council reserves the right in the event of circumstances arising outside of its control to cancel or change the competition at any stage. A man touches the boundary stone in Eyam from which no resident could pass during the village’s isolation in 1666. Photograph: Gary Calton/The Observer

This poem reflects Betjeman’s fondness for his stuffed toy, and helps to explain why Betjeman became, for Britain, ‘the nation’s teddy bear’. Archibald, and Betjeman’s toy elephant Jumbo, were in his arms when he died in 1984. The poem was also influenced by a scene in Meghadūta in which an exile sends reassuring words to his wife in the Himalayas via a passing cloud.

Primary and secondary resources you could use to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III

The competition is being run by East Cambridgeshire District Council over the Easter Holidays, with under 18s being asked to compile an illustrated poem entitled “If I were King Charles for the day.” The coronation of King Charles III is an opportunity for English teachers. As we inhabit the ‘days of the King’, teachers have a role in making events accessible for students. In the English classroom, drawing parallels and encouraging discussions around fictional representations of kingship and the reality of the Coronation and the modern monarchy could prove productive. Here I must say how supremely well the Mistress of the Robes and the Dean carried out this delicate office. It must he difficult to make the robing of someone in public, even a Queen so dignified as ours, not look slightly ridiculous, but they managed to make it something beautiful and tender. The Coronation Concert, held this evening in the grounds of Windsor Castle and broadcast live by the BBC, featured actor James Nesbitt OBE reading the poem ‘We’re Lighting Up The Nation’, penned by Brunel University London’s Prof Daljit Nagra MBE.

Young people across East Cambridgeshire are being given the opportunity to write a poem to help celebrate King Charles III’s Coronation. All upcoming public events are going ahead as planned and you can find more information on our events blog

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This was a great moment. Carrying the sceptre in one hand, the Rod in the other, with a golden train, and with a heavy Crown on her head, she ascended the Throne. There was no sense, to put it bluntly, of this being a balancing feat. The Professor of Creative Writing was honoured to be asked to write the poem by BBC1 and the Palace on behalf of the Royal Society of Literature, of which he is the Chair.

Betjeman uses animals to make his point, and it’s not hard to see why this has become one of Betjeman’s most popular poems – it appeals to people of all ages, and even those who miss the satire. Poetry is “by definition consoling” because “it often asks us just to focus and think and be contemplative”, said Armitage. The Coronation has already inspired the production of resources for schools, freely available for teachers. The British Coronation Project, a collaboration between King's College London, University of Roehampton and Arts Projects for Schools offers a curriculum-based scheme of work for primary aged children while The Eden Project’s Coronation Big Lunch includes a range of arts and teaching resources to commemorate the occasion. The Royal Collection Trust has produced materials for schools and also offers opportunities to visit the official royal residences throughout the year and for school groups to experience Coronation-themed workshops.

Most significantly, however, events such as the Coronation give rise to discussions of identity. What does it mean to be a citizen of ‘this sceptred isle’? What does the Coronation of a new Monarch have to do with the lived experience of the students in our classrooms? This short poem was written late in Betjeman’s life and reflects the mixture of tender melancholy and humour that pervade his other work, though there is a deeper awareness of death and (like his friend Philip Larkin) a terror of dying lurking behind the poem. The crowd in the castle grounds cheeredat each mention of citiesand locations in the poem read out by Nesbitt, whose acting breakthrough in the romcom TV series Cold Feet led to further success on both the small and big screens.

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Poems by James Mansfield, undiscovered until 2014, include A Prayer for the King's Majesty, in which the then poet laureate reflects on George VI's Coronation in May 1937. A modern poet Laureate, Carol Anne Duffy, reminds us that the crown is ‘not lightly worn’ in her poem The Crown written for the 60th anniversary of The Queen's Coronation. Such texts provide openings for both for analysis and creativity, with teachers using poetry as a springboard for discussion. Writing for NATE, Lesley Nelson-Addy, Furzeen Ahmed and Harmeet Matharu call for a diversification of poetry in the English curriculum, including consideration of such collections as Daljit Nagra’s British Museum in which Nagra considers his identity as a British Asian and how institutions such as the British Museum and the BBC have guided him on his journey to understanding his culture. As Nelson-Addy, Ahmed and Matharu suggest, in considering the anthology, The Archbishop anoints her on the hand, on the breast and on the head. This is the sacrament of unction, and now we need have no fear that she will be unable to maintain her office so that the presenting to her of the Spurs and the Sword of Justice will not be more than she can bear. She is wise, now the Bracelets of Wisdom are put on her. She stands up in all her dignity, strong enough to be a Queen. The Dean of Westminster and the Mistress of the Robes dress her first in a muslin undergarment, and then in a gold super-tunica belted with a rich girdle.