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Dante Alighieri, the great Italian poet of the fourteenth century, has a place of honor at Princeton Latin Academy. As a creator of language in its highest form, Dante not only composed one of the most enduring poems in history, but also defined the future of the Italian language. In honor of him, and in celebration of poetry and language, students select, memorize and recite poems before an audience of parents and teachers.

Students choose works from the greatest English-speaking poets, ranging from Chaucer and Shakespeare to Yeats and Dylan Thomas. In addition, and unique to Princeton Latin Academy, some students recite and translate poems from other languages. In the past, these have included sections from Virgil's Aeneid, Dante's La Vita Nuova, the proem from Homer's Iliad, and poems from Garcia Lorca and others. Following the performance, the faculty selects the ten best recitations and awards each of the winners with a traditional laurel wreath. A few weeks later, these ten students will have an opportunity to help their teams score points at the School's Olympiad as they represent their teams in the poetry competition.

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