The teaching of poetry needs to be made more interesting in British schools, it has been claimed.
In an interview with the Independent, former poet laureate Sir Andrew Motion said many educational professionals see poetry as a "problem" to teach.
"At an absurdly basic level, we have to tackle how it is presented to teachers at teacher training colleges," he commented.
"Poetry is commonly described as a valuable part of our national life. But by common consent the existing general audience for it is much smaller than it could be and the enthusiasm for it in schools is less than it should be," Sir Andrew commented.
Furthermore, he noted that the subject is seen as a bore by many pupils.
He added that children are provided with "too narrow a diet" of poetry at school, often only reading the work of a handful of poets.
Sir Andrew became the first ever poet laureate to retire when he gave up his position in 2009.
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