iF Poems App

Listen to readings with Bill Nighy and Tom Hiddleston


 

Helena Bonham Carter introduces iF Poems

iF Poems has a magical selection of poetry ranging from Shakespeare to Carol Ann Duffy, by way of Keats and Walt Whitman.

“You will have more than 200 classic poems at your fingertips, all of them (yes, I do mean all of them) perfect to read and recite for children and adults alike. It’s the first poetry app for children, but adults will get a great deal out of it too.”
Erica Wagner, Literary Editor of The Times

Search for poems in 12 categories, including Tell Me A Tale, Humour & Nonsense, When You Need Help, and Bedtime.  Or you could search by the age groups 0-6, 7-12 and 13+.

The acclaimed actors Helena Bonham Carter, Bill Nighy, Tom Hiddleston and Harry Enfield bring many of the poems to life with high quality audio recordings and pitch-perfect performances.

The app comes with a series of helpful articles explaining different types of poetry with definitions and examples, fantastic for school age children and inquisitive adults! It also comes with an in-built dictionary.

Treat yourself to a perfect bite-sized treasure on the move. Enjoy listening, reading and recording your own performances with all the family. iF Poems brings classic poems to a new generation.

“Its audio collections… alone make it one of the year’s best audiobooks.”
Tom Standage, Digital Editor of The Economist

Helena Bonham Carter is best known for her roles in the films A Room with a View, Fight Club and The King’s Speech, notably playing Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter Films. Helena reads a selection, including:

  • The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear
  • The Mock Turtle’s Song by Lewis Carroll
  • Stick Boy and Match Girl in Love by Tim Burton
  • I wandered lonely as a cloud by William Wordsworth

 

Bill Nighy is perhaps best known for his role as Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, as well as his critically acclaimed performance in Love Actually. He reads a selection, including:

  • Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
  • A Visit from St Nicholas by Clement Clark Moore
  • Annabel Lee by Edgar Allen Poe
  • O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman

 

Harry Enfield is an actor, comedian, writer and director, best known for his British sketch show Harry Enfield and Chums. He reads a selection, including:

  • A Subaltern’s Love Song by John Betjeman
  • Sometimes With One I Love by Walt Whitman

 

Tom Hiddleston is known for a selection of film and stage roles, credits including War Horse, The Avengers, Midnight in Paris and Thor, for which he was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award. Tom reads a selection, including:

  • Bright Star! by John Keats
  • As I Walked Out One Evening by W H Auden
  • If Music be the Food of Love by William Shakespeare

 

The iF Poems app for iPad and iPhone is available to buy:
UK: iPhone/iPod £1.99 —- iPad £2.99
USA: Phone/iPod $2.99 —- iPad $4.99


iF Poems Book

iF: A Treasury of Poems for Almost Every Possibility

“This gorgeous and electrifying anthology should be on the shelf of every child in Britain”

Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate, UK

 

If you liked the app, we hope you’ll fall in love with the book, published by Canongate in October 2012 to coincide with National Poetry Day.

This magical anthology is available from all good bookshops in the UK, and it is available on Amazon UK, which offers international delivery.

This hardback anthology features a wonderful selection of over 150 of your favourite classic poems, fully illustrated by Natasha Law. Each poem has been carefully chosen to be ideal for all ages to read aloud, many including helpful and educational introductions.

From Keats to Wendy Cope, by way of T S Eliot and John Betjeman, these are poems to pass down the generations. The book is organised into categories such as ‘If You Need Help’ and ‘Growing Up’, so just like the app, if Poems can help you find the right poem for the right occasion. Whether you’re after a poem that is charming, funny, sad, silly, magical, sleepy, long or short, there’s something in here for everyone.

A favourite poem will stay with you for life, and this collection for all the family is sure to delight and entertain for years to come.

“iF Anthology of Poems is both beautiful and useful. What more could anyone want?”

Erica Wagner, Literary Editor of The Times

 

News and Reviews

The Guardian Podcast

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229 days ago

The Guardian’s esteemed Literary Editor Claire Armitstead interviewed us for a poetry podcast. Helena Bonham Carter and Tom Hiddleston’s audio readings appear in the interview. Click here to listen.

iF: A Treasury of Poems for Almost Every Possibility

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258 days ago

Our hardback illustrated anthology – iF: A Treasury of Poems for Almost Every Possibility is to be published by Canongate on October 4th 2012, which is National Poetry Day in the UK. You can pre-order it here Carol Ann Duffy, the … Continue reading →

Sunday Times News Review: Rhyme and Reason

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341 days ago

‘If kids start young with easy, fun, accessible poems… it’s a better introduction to the joys of verse,’ explains Allie Esiri.  

iF Poems/The Times Young Poet Competition Winners!

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367 days ago

iF Poems and The Times invited under-17s to submit original poems for the chance to be our Young Poet of the Year. We also provided 30 great poems everyone should know and separately 30 great love poems as 8-page pullouts … Continue reading →

iF Poems Highly Commended by Junior Magazine

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368 days ago

iF Poems was highly commended at the Junior Magazine Design Awards in the category of Best Story App. Click here to see the certificate. Click here for the link.

Poetry

We are working on our website. We want it to be an interesting new home for poetry.  We want to share more poems, discuss the art of writing poetry and hear your views.

Follow us on Twitter @iFPoems or like us on Facebook for more info and updates about iF Poems.

Click here to see our collection of poems about stars from our anthology “iF: A Treasury of Poems for Almost Every Possibility”

Click the links below to read some poems and read a short history about poetry.

A Short History of Poetry

Metrical Feet- A Lesson for a Boy

If Music Be The Food Of Love

The Chilterns

Rainbows

The Cap and Bells

Sweet Polly Oliver

Further Info

Allie and Rachel created this app because they love poetry and love apps. This one will keep being bettered – do give us your feedback in the box below. We would love to hear from you.

More iF apps are coming soon, as well as a hardback, fully illustrated anthology in October 2012 – iF: A Treasury of Poems for Almost Every Possibility.

Allie Esiri was an actress from 1990-2000, then had 3 children and wrote freelance for magazines including American Vogue, New York Times T Magazine and London’s Evening Standard Magazine.

Rachel Kelly was a staff writer on The Times for 10 years and now has 5 children.

The App was developed by Thomas and Marc Wilson at Chocolate Creative
www.chocolate-creative.co.uk

Natasha Law is represented by Breed London. She is an acclaimed artist who is known for her delicate line drawing. She has collaborated with the designers Mulberry and Beatrix Ong, and Vogue.

Both Allie and Rachel are available for interview. For more information, images, a free press code for either the iPhone or iPad app or to request an interview please contact allie@ifpoems.com or rachel@ifpoems.com

DOWNLOAD OUR PRESS KIT

 Suggestions and Feedback

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FAQs

Audio doesn’t seem to be working

Please check that the mute button on the side of your device is off.
Please check the volume is turned up.
If neither of these seem to work, do try the following:
Double click the home button on your device (the home button is the circle which you use for on/off/home etc).
Your open apps appear at the bottom of your screen.
Slide icons at the bottom of the screen as far as you can to the left.
You then see the volume buttons at bottom of screen.
Ensure volume is on.

I can’t record my poem or edit my poem

Try quitting the app, taking it out of multitasking mode, and re-launching it to see the startup illustration and try again.

How do I write my own poem?

To write your own poem simply click on the ‘My Poems’ tab

Click the ‘Write’ icon

click the same icon again and follow the on screen instructions

remember to press ‘Save’ when complete or for editing later

How do I record my own poem?

To record your own poem simply select any poem and click the ‘Record’ icon above the title.

Click ‘Start’ to start recording, the icon will change to ‘On’

Click ‘Stop’ to finish the recording

Clcik ‘Play’ to playback your recording

Click ‘Close’ to get back to the poem page

I can’t email certain poems

Some poems are copyrighted to the original author and cannot be shared without written permission by the author.

Email a poem in html text format

To email a poem simply select your choice of poem, click the email icon above the title and the poem will be added to your iPhone or iPad email app ready to share.

Poem Copyright

Most of the poems featured are classic poems written by those who died more than seventy years ago and are therefore out of copyright.

Regarding all authors featured whose work is still under copyright, Clickworks Ltd has successfully applied for copyright for the following authors and acknowledgements are due to:

The Society of Authors as the literary representative of Alfred Noyes for his poem “The Highwayman” and “Song of Sherwood.”
The Society of Authors as the literary representative of John Masefield for his poem “Sea Fever.”
The Literary Trustees of Walter de la Mare and the Society of Authors as the representative for his poems “The Listeners”, “Someone,” and “Nod.”
To the Rights House Group, PFD for the copyright to the following poems “Jim who ran away..”, “The Vulture” “The Elephant”, “The Frog”, “Matilda who told lies..” by Hilaire Belloc and “Walking Away” by
Cecil Day Lewis.
To Curtis Brown Ltd for the Copyright ©1936 for the poem Funeral Blues by W.H Auden and for the Copyright © 1938 for the poem Musee by W.H.Auden.
For “Everybody Sang” and “Does It Matter” by Siegfried Sassoon, copyright Siegfried Sassoon with kind permission of the Estate of George Sassoon.

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders but in case of any copyright transgression, Clickworks Ltd would like to hear from any copyright holder not acknowledged and we would endeavour of course to set right any unintended error.

The app does not open on my iPad / iPhone / iPod Touch

The app currently supports iOS 6 devices, please plug your apple device into iTunes and update to the latest version of iOS 6.

The app runs on iOS 6 supported devices:

iPhone: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 &iPhone 4S
iPod: iPod Touch 3rd generation & iPod Touch 4th generation
iPad: iPad & iPad 2

Please make sure you download the correct app- there is an app for iPhone/iPod Touch, and a separate app for iPad. Please take care when choosing the right app to download!

Make sure that you are not using a wifi connection that is using a proxy server. If you are unsure, disable your wifi when using the app

Favourites button not working?

Please update to the latest version of iF Poems. The bug has now been fixed.

My own written poems are lost

We tried to warn you on the update info of our latest update that there was a small chance that your written, saved poems may be lost whilst updating, due to a technical hitch. To be certain, we advised it was best to email yourself the poems before hitting the update button. If you had any problems, we are very sorry.