Letters from iconic poets such as Philip Larkin and Seamus Heaney now available for research

The archive from Poems On The Underground, the public art programme that has displayed poetry on London’s Tube trains since 1986, has been donated to the prestigious Cambridge University Library. This collection includes letters and correspondence from renowned literary figures like former Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Nobel Prize-winning poets Seamus Heaney and Louise Gluck, and the late Philip Larkin.

The archive, which also holds hundreds of posters and memorabilia from the project’s history, will now be available for consultation by researchers and the public. Poems On The Underground was initially conceived by Judith Chernaik, Gerard Benson, and Cicely Herbert, and has introduced poetry to millions of commuters over the years.

Among the most significant items in the archive is a letter from Philip Larkin, who passed away in 1985 just before his poem The Trees was featured on the Underground. In a handwritten note from July 1985, Larkin, struggling with ill health, expressed his pleasure that the project was being well received but noted his uncertainty about ever seeing one of his poems on the Tube.

Seamus Heaney, whose poem The Railway Children was part of the inaugural set of posters in 1986, praised the project in a letter dated 1999, acknowledging its impact and the difference it had made in bringing poetry to the public: “It has made a difference, I am sure, to the life-worth of poetry for many people.”

The archive also contains letters from other poets, such as Anne Stevenson, who thanked Chernaik for sending her posters, mentioning she hoped to display them in her home.

The move of the archive to Cambridge University Library is a significant milestone for the project, which continues to celebrate the role of poetry in everyday life. Co-director Judith Chernaik, now working alongside Imtiaz Dharker and George Szirtes, expressed pride in seeing the collection housed at one of the world’s leading libraries. The archive not only focuses on Poems On The Underground but also includes materials related to similar poetry schemes inspired by the project worldwide.

Cambridge University Library, known for housing the archives of other notable poets such as Siegfried Sassoon and Anne Stevenson, now hosts this vital collection, which offers a unique insight into how poetry has interacted with the public through the Poems On The Underground initiative.