Poetry Speaks 2026

Poetry Speaks is a new, exciting and accessible poetry anthology, written and designed specifically for the Ordinary Level Leaving Certificate English course.

• Filled with activities that promote classroom communication, Poetry Speaks aims to create a learning space that encourages students to explore and understand poems and poets from a variety of perspectives.
• The textbook includes all prescribed poems and poets for the 2026 Leaving Certificate examination at Ordinary Level.
• Visually attractive, with an appealing design, the images are carefully selected to stimulate curiosity and interest. 
• Packed with active learning tasks to encourage students to think and talk about the content, theme and style in poetry.
• Designed to promote engagement and make poetry meaningful and relevant to students’ lives.
• Poetry Speaks is accompanied by author podcasts that are available in the resources area on the CJ Fallon website.

Some Key Features… 

Poetry Speaks has been carefully designed with the Ordinary Level student in mind. Ease of use, clarity and student engagement are central to this textbook. Each poem is supported by a variety of resources:

• Concise biographies, with relevant information and images to enhance students’ knowledge of each poet.
• Talk About activities that introduce the topics and themes explored in the poems, while encouraging students to actively collaborate.
• Write About activities that create a space for students to record their thoughts and feelings on issues that emerge from their study of poetry. These activities help students to develop understanding through writing personal responses.
• Each poem is accompanied by a helpful glossary that enables student understanding in order to successfully navigate the world of the poem.
• A concise series of questions on content, theme and style consolidate further understanding of each poem’s key features.
• A unique feature of Poetry Speaks is the Zoom in! study cards, where poetic techniques (e.g. alliteration, form, personification) are explained in clear, unambiguous language.
• The Practice Activity, linked to the study cards, provides an effective formative assessment task, which tests the students’ understanding of poetic techniques, reinforces learning and builds their confidence in writing about the style and techniques of each poem.
• A series of concise Revision Cards include helpful notes and tips on the content of each poem, analysing the poem’s theme and key features of the poet’s style.

Formative and Summative Assessment

Formative and Summative assessment tasks accompany each poem.

Formative Assessment

• Unique and innovative features of Poetry Speaks include the PoetryPod podcasts and Revision Worksheet. Students are invited to complete a Revision Worksheet on their favourite poems and this activity is directly supported by the helpful PoetryPod podcasts available on my.cjfallon.ie.
• The PoetryPod podcasts further explore the poem to develop understanding and provide useful tips to help students complete the Revision Worksheet.
• Students can self- and peer-assess this activity in order to discover their strengths and highlight areas which require improvement.

Summative Assessment

• The final exercise at the end of every poem is a summative assessment task where students answer exam-type questions, which are based on the style and format of previous Leaving Certificate examination questions.

Other features…

Glossary of Key Poetic Terms

• A unique feature of Poetry Speaks is that students are actively encouraged to apply definitions of poetic terms in order to complete activities such as the Quick Test and demonstrate their knowledge of each poetic term.

Unseen Poetry Section

• The guidelines and tips on approaching the unseen poem are expertly judged and tailored specifically for the Ordinary Level examination.
• Two exam-type questions follow each unseen poem.
• Additionally, there are colour-coded Question Cards containing further questions that can be applied to each poem, giving teachers the option to explore the unseen poems in more detail to build confidence and develop interpretation skills.

The Author

Edmond Behan is a highly regarded English teacher and the author of several successful textbooks. An English Methods Lecturer for PME student teachers at Maynooth University, he is also a Professional Placement Supervisor of PME student teachers at UCD School of Education.