World Poetry Day is on 21 March, and was declared by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 1999. The purpose of the day is to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world and, as the UNESCO session declaring the day says, to “give fresh recognition and impetus to national, regional and international poetry movements”.
It was generally celebrated in October, sometimes on the 5th, but in the latter part of the 20th Century the world community celebrated it on 15 October, the birthday of Virgil, the Roman epic poet and poet latter under Augustus. The tradition to keep an October date for national or international poetry day celebrations still holds in many countries. It is the first Thursday in October in the UK. Alternatively, a different October or even November date is celebrated.

In order to celebrate this day we have decided to podcast W. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day”, along with giving some information about the poem.

SONNET 18 _Shall I Compare Thee To a Summers Day_