Last Updated: 7/24/2009 5:12:07 PM
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Yazdan Isfahani, 10, wins UK nationwide schools poetry competition

Yazdan Isfahani

Yazdan Isfahani, 10, takes a deep breath and in a loud, clear voice, belts out the verse that led him to victory. “Macavity’s a Mystery Cat: he’s called the Hidden Paw — for he’s the master criminal who can defy the law. He’s the bafflement . . .”

On he goes, performing the T. S. Eliot classic with brio, and clearly relishing his discovery of a cat who breaks the law of gravity.

Yazdan spoke only Farsi when his family arrived in Britain seven years ago, seeking asylum from Iran.

Now he has beaten 1,500 pupils from state and private primary schools across Britain, in a televised poetry competition featured in a BBC Two documentary last night.

After 57 regional heats, in which children were asked to pick one poem to perform in front of a panel of judges, the Iranian boy who learnt English as a second language emerged the winner. “It made me very proud of myself,” Yazdan told The Times.

“You know that advert: ‘You don’t have to be posh to be privileged’? It’s like you don’t have to be English to learn these poems. People from other countries can do it too, and that’s what I wanted to prove.”

The schoolboy, who remembers struggling to understand the lyrics of the Scooby Doo theme tune, now reels off some of the nation’s favourite poems. There is his choice for the first round, Jim, by Hilaire Belloc — “about a boy who annoys a lion” — and there is the final judging panel’s choice, Sea Fever, by the former Poet Laureate, John Masefield — “all about a man who really, really loves the sea, but because he’s old he can’t go back there.”

And, in words that must be music to the ears of the Off by Heart organisers, Yazdan, from Middlesbrough, has also learnt to love poetry.

“It’s so much fun,” he says. “I’ve learnt to be more sociable, and I’ve learnt lots of new words, like “spume” which means froth, and “whetted”, which means sharp.

“And it has helped me loads, especially with remembering things and keeping them stored in my head. I’m also a lot, lot more confident.”

What is the best bit about reciting poetry? The reply is immediate. “I like it when I finish and everyone starts clapping.”

Spoken like a true performer.

The Off By Heart competition aims to reinvigorate the lost art of poetry recital in British schools. A documentary, directed by Antonia Bird, followed the stories of each of the 12 finalists — most of whom attended state schools.

The judging panel included the poet Benjamin Zephaniah, Dawn Postans, head examiner at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and the author Philip Pullman.

Mr Pullman said: “The performances have been extraordinary. It never ceases to amaze me when you see children as young as 7, who are initially shy and timid, transformed on stage through their love of poetry.”

The schoolboy has now planned a careful career path. “I want to get on Britain’s Got Talent, and become a singer. If I can’t have that, I’ll be a philosopher.”

Source: Time Online

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