Organised by the Poetry Society and the Forward Poetry Trust, it will involve hundreds of events around the country in schools, libraries, supermarkets and offices.

The BBC will run poems through the week, culminating in a vote for the nation’s favourite poem.

A Poetry Society spokeswoman said: “This year the focus is on our inner lives or internal landscapes - and on the poems that have a particular significances for us, that we have either adopted or written. It’s about things we say for ourselves.”

She said it was well known that adolescents wrote poems in times of extreme emotion but smaller children might make use of poems as an emotional outlet too. This year’s National Poetry Day Schools’ Guide therefore concentrates on matters of the heart, poems people want to say out loud because they make the readers happy or sad.

The guide lists suitable poems for reading aloud such as “The Tyger” by William Blake and “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll; poems that evoke emotional responses such as “My Granny is a Sumo Wrestler” by Gareth Owen; and others that convey emotional truths such as “Kite” by June Crebbin.

Poetry posters, a Teachers’ Poetry Resources File and a Young Poetry Pack are available. Details from the Poetry Society 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9BU. Tel: 0171 240 4810.