Decades ago, American writer Judith Chernaik asked herself how poems posted inside subway cars might enrich rider experience. The resulting project, Poems on the Underground, turns 40 this year. These glimpses of beauty keep giving.
New York native Chernaik moved to London, England, in the 1970s. She fell “absolutely in love with the city—including its transport system.”
Besides the Underground, Chernaik, who writes novels and essays, reveled in the city’s rich literary culture and history.
Along with two poet friends, Gerard Benson and Cecily Herbert, Chernaik hatched a plan. She would combine literature and transit. The first Underground poems went up in January 1986.
The first poems included works by William Shakespeare, Robert Burns, W.B. Yeats, and William Carlos Williams. Poems by Wole Soyinka, Pablo Neruda, Anna Akhmatova, and more soon followed.
Today’s offerings mix modern verses with centuries-old classics. Chernaik still helps select them.
Sonnets, haiku, love poems, tragic poems, funny poems—all have enjoyed pride of place with Poems on the Underground. Sometimes poems are highly relatable to commuters, such as Hungarian poet Katalin Szlukovényi’s Overcrowding.
In January, more than a dozen poets with works featured in the Underground gathered to celebrate the project’s 40-year milestone and pay tribute to Chernaik.
Poet Nick Makoha says that, like the Tube itself, poetry “should be part of our daily lives.” His poem BOM once graced the Underground.
“You could be sitting at Turnpike Lane [Tube station],” he says, “and all of a sudden I’ve taken you to Bombay.”
“Somehow the idea of it worked, and here we are,” says Chernaik, now 91.
Responding to beauty amid grit, grime, noise, and chaos goes beyond artistic or academic impulse. The response arises from God Himself, the Creator of beauty. When humans recognize, produce, or elevate beauty rightly, acknowledging Him as He truly is, we give Him glory.
Poems on the Underground is a much-loved fixture of London’s transit network. Many millions of passengers have seen its poetry-emblazoned posters plastered among other advertisements on their daily commutes.
The project inspired similar initiatives in cities including Dublin, Oslo, Shanghai—and Chernaik’s New York with Poetry in Motion.
The poems take a tiny step toward making a mundane daily commute more pleasant. After all, “A thing of beauty,” the poet John Keats wrote, “is a joy forever.”
Why? Poetry, like other great art, can help foster a love of beauty—even, or perhaps especially, in unlikely places.
April is National Poetry Month. What are you reading—or writing? Let us know. Write to WORLDteeneditor@gwnews.com.
Recommended Reading: For more on poetry, read The 100 Best Poems of All Time, edited by Leslie Pockell.
