As part of our Annual Literacy Survey in early 2023, we asked more than 60,000 children and young people aged 8 to 18 across the UK whether they read or write poetry.
In 2022, we found that there had been a steady increase in the number of children and young people who read poetry over the past decade, while 1 in 5 also wrote poetry in their free time. In 2023, the percentage of children and young people who said they read poetry in their free time at least once a month decreased slightly from the previous year, with 26.7% doing so compared with 28.0% in 2022.
Key findings
Children and young people as readers of poetry:
- In 2023, 1 in 4 (26.7%) children and young people said that they read poetry in their free time at least once a month, with 16.3% reading poems on paper, 7.5% reading poems on screen and 2.9% reading poems across both media.
- More girls than boys told us they read poetry in their free time (31.2% vs. 21.8%).
- The percentage who read poetry decreased with age, with twice as many 8 to 11s doing so compared with young people aged 11 and older (46.5% vs around 22%).
- In line with our previous findings, more children and young people who received free school meals (FSMs) say that they read poetry in their free time than those who didn’t receive FSMs (32.2% vs. 24.3%).
- Compared with their peers who didn’t read poetry in their free time, more of those who did told us that they enjoyed reading (58.5% vs 37.9%). More also read something daily in their free time (37.7% vs. 24.4%) and saw themselves as good readers (84.3% vs. 74.5%).
- There were no differences in reading enjoyment levels, daily reading levels or levels of reading confidence between those who read poetry on paper or those who read it on screen. However, levels were higher across the board for those who read poetry both on paper and on screen.
Children and young people as writers of poetry:
- 1 in 6 (17.6%) children and young people said they write poetry in their free time at least once a month. Most (10.8%) wrote on paper, 4.5% did so on screen, and just 2% wrote poetry both on paper and on screen. This is a slight decrease in the percentage who wrote poetry in 2022, when nearly 1 in 5 (18.5%) did so.
- In 2023, more girls than boys wrote poetry in their free time (20.2% vs. 14.0%).
- As with reading, the percentage of children and young people who wrote poetry decreased with age, with three times as many children aged 8 to 11 writing poetry in their free time compared with young people aged 14 and older (35.1% vs 11%).
- As with reading poetry, slightly more children and young people who receive FSMs write poetry in their free time than their peers who do not receive FSMs (21.9% vs. 15.3%).
- More children and young people who wrote poetry also said that they enjoy writing more generally compared with their peers who didn’t write poetry (58.6% vs. 29.5%). More also wrote something in their free time daily (30.8% vs. 16.9%), and more considered themselves to be good writers (80.4% vs. 65.4%).
Readers of poetry are also writers of poetry:
- The research found a strong, positive relationship (r = .51) between children and young people being readers of poetry and being writers of poetry.
- 1 in 2 (48.0%) children and young people who read poetry in their free time also told us that they wrote poetry in their free time compared with only 6.1% who didn't read poetry in their free time.
Overall, the research suggests that poetry writing can support children and young people's mental wellbeing, helping them express their rich interior lives, providing social connections and increasing confidence in reading and writing abilities. The report explores these findings alongside outcomes from our Young Poets project, which provides children and young people with opportunities to work with professional poets with the radical view that every young person is a poet.