This paper suggests a particular value to treating the teaching of poetry in school comparatively. It argues that the justification for this claim derives from the ways in which peculiar symbiotic dependencies between poetry, languages, cultures and uniquely individual consciousness‐‐and between poetry, childhood learning and children's achievement of literacy‐‐can be represented in a teaching methodology. It refers to a unique teaching and research project, directed by the author at Goldsmiths’ College, University of London, which has developed principles and strategies for building a new pedagogy with children and in teacher education.