Poetry Olympics
Schedule
Wed, 03 Jun, 2026 at 11:00 am
UTC+01:00Location
5 Crown Passage, WR1 3LL Worcester, United Kingdom | Worcester, EN
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Did you know poetry Was an Official Olympic Event for Nearly 40 Years? Will you be one of our Pantheon of Muses for 2026?At the ancient Olympics in Greece, athletes weren’t the only stars of the show. The spectacle also attracted poets, who recited their works for eager audiences. Physical strength and literary prowess were inextricably linked.
Thousands of years later, this image appealed to Pierre de Coubertin, a French baron best known as the founder of the modern Olympics in 1896. He pictured a competition that would “reunite in the bonds of legitimate wedlock a long-divorced couple—muscle and mind.”
The baron believed that humanity had “lost all sense of eurythmy,” a word he used to describe the harmony of arts and athletics. The idea can be traced back to sources such as Plato’s Republic, in which Socrates extolls the virtues of education that combines “gymnastic for the body and music for the soul.”
There will be 4 categories to choose from on the day:
Speed Poetry
Relay Poem
Blackout Poetry
Random Word Challenge
part of Alchemy of Words festival
FREE EVENT
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Where is it happening?
5 Crown Passage, WR1 3LL Worcester, United Kingdom, 5 Crown Street, Worcester, WR3 8BJ, United KingdomEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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