English performance poetry

Those who know me will know my history in performance poetry. This emerged largely from my stage presence as a musician and front-man for several rock bands in the 80s and 90s. During that time I developed a performance style constructed on the spoken word, humour, ad-libbing and story telling. Out of fascination, I delved into the history of performance poetry in my own country and it is fascinating. Read on...

Modern English performance poetry emerged during the cultural revolution of the 1960s, transforming poetry from a predominantly printed literary form into a vibrant live art. Influenced by music, theatre, political activism, and the spoken traditions of earlier times, performance poets tried to engage audiences directly through their voices, rhythm, humour and storytelling. Today, it flourishes in festivals, theatres, schools, cafés and online, making poetry more accessible than at any time in recent history.

In my opinion, the most influential pioneers of performance poetry were the Liverpool Poets—Adrian Henri, Roger McGough and Brian Patten. Living and performing in a city that was also home to the Beatles, they captured the energy and optimism of the 1960s. Rather than writing solely for academic audiences, they produced poetry that could be heard as well as read. Their performances often included music, visual art, and humour, breaking down the barriers between poetry and popular entertainment.

I own a copy of their landmark anthology, The Mersey Sound (1967) and often dip into it for inspiration. It is one of the best-selling poetry collections in British publishing history. Adrian Henri combined surreal imagery with pop culture and jazz influences, while Roger McGough became renowned for his wit, wordplay and memorable public performances. Brian Patten's deeply personal poems about love, childhood and social injustice balanced accessibility with emotional depth. Together, they demonstrated that poetry could appeal to a broad audience without sacrificing artistic quality, inspiring countless poets to perform their work rather than simply publish it.

Parallel to the Liverpool Poets, Adrian Mitchell emerged as one of Britain's foremost political performance poets. A passionate campaigner against war, nuclear weapons and social inequality, Mitchell believed that poetry should speak directly to ordinary people. His energetic performances combined humour, satire and moral conviction, making him a regular presence at political rallies, literary festivals and public events.

The rise of punk during the late 1970s gave performance poetry a new voice through John Cooper Clarke. Often described as the Punk Poet (other poets were available), Clarke delivered quick-fire poems full of dark humour, sharp social observation, and working-class wit. Performing with rock bands, he introduced poetry to audiences who had little interest in traditional literature. His influence can still be seen in today's spoken-word performers and stand-up poets.

The 1980s and 1990s saw performance poetry become increasingly diverse. Benjamin Zephaniah combined reggae rhythms, Jamaican oral traditions, and political activism to create an unmistakable performance style while Linton Kwesi Johnson achieved something similar with dub-poetry. His poems addressed racism, inequality, environmental issues, and human rights with warmth, humour, and urgency. Zephaniah's refusal to separate poetry from everyday life helped establish spoken word as a respected literary form. Other notable performers, including John Hegley, blended comedy with thoughtful observations about family, education, and modern society, proving that performance poetry could be both entertaining and deeply moving.

In recent years, performance poetry has flourished through poetry slams, open-mic nights, festivals, podcasts and via social media. The internet has enabled poets to reach global audiences without relying solely on traditional publishers. Luke Wright has become one of England's leading live poets, combining political commentary with autobiographical storytelling and humour. Hollie McNish has attracted large audiences through performances addressing motherhood, feminism, class and everyday life with honesty and wit. Brian Bilston, often described as the 'Poet Laureate of Twitter' has demonstrated how social media can introduce poetry to new readers through clever, accessible verse that frequently translates successfully to live performance.

Among England's most respected contemporary poets, Simon Armitage, the current Poet Laureate, is a gifted performer whose conversational style makes his readings engaging. His work bridges the gap between page and stage, while poets such as Kae Tempest have taken it much further. Tempest has blurred the boundaries between poetry, theatre, music and spoken-word performance, attracting audiences far beyond traditional literary circles. Although his work incorporates rap and dramatic monologue, it sustains the performance tradition established by earlier generations. Another in this mould is Chris Turner who performs free-style comic rap, working with suggestions from live audiences to create spontaneous, real-time poetry.

Today, performance poetry holds an important place in English culture. Schools encourage spoken-word competitions, literary festivals regularly feature live performances, and poetry slams continue to attract new voices from every background. The tradition established by the Liverpool Poets has evolved into a diverse movement that embraces humour, politics, identity, music, and personal experience.

English performance poetry has transformed the way poetry is written, shared and enjoyed. From the pioneering performances of the Liverpool Poets to the political passion of Adrian Mitchell, the punk energy of John Cooper Clarke and contemporary voices such as Simon Armitage, Luke Wright, Hollie McNish, Brian Bilston and Kae Tempest, performance poetry in England has ensured that verse remains a living, dynamic and accessible art form in the twenty-first century. 

Steve Wheeler

Experimental Poetry 14: Speak out loud

Poetry is not only textual. It is also spoken word. The oral tradition of story telling through verse has a long history.

Most of my early poetry experiences were either listening to the spoken word, or on stage performing the spoken word of my own poetry. So poetry has a natural affinity with the voice - whether spoken out loud - or the inner voice, inside the mind. All of our poetry derives from our voice. Some of the best poetry I have ever experienced was heard rather than read. Here in the UK there are some awesome living poets, including John Cooper Clarke, Mike Garry and Harry Baker. The spoken word creates ambience, emotion, cadence and inflection way beyond what you might expect to encounter in a printed text. The spoken word takes poetry to the next level.

It would be only natural then, to also create poetry without using a pen, pencil, laptop, quill etc. All of these are human inventions that enable us to make writing more or less permanent. But what if we would instead create our poetry from only the speaking out loud method?

Method 25: Speaking out loud. Here's how it might work: You think of a topic (give it a title), and then begin speaking. It doesn't need to necessarily make sense, rhyme or have any specific direction. Remember my post on stream of consciousness poetry? Simply speak and the words come out. There are some excellent freestyle rappers who can do this at the drop of the hat, but they have had a lot of practice. Don't expect yours to be perfect first time. It won't be. But somewhere in the jumble of utterings and mutterings that emerge, you might find a few lines or phrases that you can develop later into a fully fledged poem. Don't forget to record it as you speak! 

Now that's experimental poetry!

Steve Wheeler

Previous posts in this series

Experimental Poetry 1: Found Poetry
Experimental Poetry 2: Stream of Consciousness
Experimental Poetry 3: Fake Translations
Experimental Poetry 4: Overlapping Voices
Experimental Poetry 5: Random Prompts
Experimental Poetry 6: The Movie Method
Experimental Poetry 7: Unexpected End Rhymes
Experimental Poetry 8: Calligrams
Experimental Poetry 9: Anarchic Poetry
Experimental Poetry 10: Timed Writing
Experimental Poetry 11: Paraphrasing
Experimental Poetry 12: Deliberate Malapropism
Experimental Poetry 13: Breaking Structure

Image from Flickr used under a public domain licence

Poetic devices 3: Repetition and refrains

They say that history repeats itself. It has to. Because no-one ever listens. 

That was, of course, a clever line from a poem by Steve Turner from his Nice and Nasty collection. But repetition is also a poetic device. In songs it's known as a refrain. A line or a whole chorus is repeated throughout the song, mainly to carry the hook line, but also to emphasise a phrase or a key point. In poetry the latter is always a good reason to repeat a line. 

There are a variety of fixed form poems that build a repetition of selected lines into their structure. The Villanelle is one example; another is the Pantoum. In both, the refrain shapes the rhythm and tempo of the poem, but can also emphasise and drive home the message the poet wishes to convey. In rhetorical poetry and prose this is known as anaphora. 

Dog by Lawrence Ferlinghetti is a poem written from the perspective of the poet's dog. The poem appears simplistic at first but as you read it you quickly realise it is deeply philosophical, and the repeated lines begin to hammer home the message that the poem is really about us and our own inner dialogues.

The dog trots freely in the street
and sees reality
and the things he sees
are bigger than himself
...
The dog trots freely thru the street
and the things he sees
are smaller than himself
...
The dog trots freely in the street
and has his own dog’s life to live ...

The entire poem can be read at this link.

Another type of repetition is known as epistrophe, where the same line is repeated at the end of an entire stanza or multiple lines. Again, this can be used effectively for emphasis, but can also be used to maintain the tempo of the poem. For a great example of this, watch the Bard of Salford, John Cooper Clarke performing his excellent poem Beasley Street (this version has a music backing). 

Building repetition and refrains into your poetry takes a little effort, especially if you want it to make sense. But with a little effort and some practice it can become second nature. Quite a few of my own poemw draw to some extent on repetitive lines and rhythmic use of words. Try it. It's a lot of fun. (I said try it. It's a lot of fun).  

Previous posts in the poetic devices series:

1: Similes
2: Metaphors

Steve Wheeler

Image by Maurits Escher on Wikimedia Commons

Urban poetry

What is urban poetry? Well, have you ever seen or watched a performance of poetry on the streets? I used to do this myself when I was younger. It takes some courage, but out on the streets you always have an audience of some kind. I would get on top of a wooden box with a microphone stand and perform my poetry to anyone who was walking by and who might be prepared to stop and listen for a while. Yep, I was a little bit more insane back then. I've seen others do similar. Urban poetry doesn't have to be outdoors. It can be anywhere. Some of the best urban poetry pops up unexpectedly and takes us all by surprise. 

Urban poetry is about being on the right side of history. It's about telling the truth in spoken word. It can be about down to earth subjects with which we can all identify, like love and loss, traffic jams, chip shop queues, losing your keys, self esteem, or simply... living in a city. More often than not, urban poetry is a protest about something - corrupt politicians, war, poverty, pollution, racism... you name it. If you want to speak out against something by writing and performing poetry, you can call it urban poetry. There's no room for flowery language in urban poetry. It's delivered in a no-compromise, earthy, gritty, street level rhythm and tempo with plenty of rhyme and some choice language too.

Classic urban poetry proponents include Manchester Poet Mike Garry performing Penny for the Guy in an outdoor market, or Gil Scott Heron with his classic The Revolution will not be Televised complete with a bass and drum accompaniment.

Look out also for excellent urban poets such as Harry Baker, the inimitable John Cooper Clark (here he is in 1980 with a poem about urban decay called Beasley Street) and Birmingham poet and playwright Benjamin Zephaniah (here with a 2009 performance of Dis Poetry)... all of whom have influenced my own writing and poetry performances and probably inspired me to write my 2020 collection Urban Voices. If you have poetry in you, and it is just screaming to get out, try the spoken word as well as the written word to get your message out there. You can do a lot worse than plunge into some poetry performances out on the street. 

Be an urban poet - and go make some waves. 

Steve Wheeler

Image copyright by Steve Wheeler 2023