Uniting the importance of sound within the teaching of poetry, with the notion of identity actualised through authentic poetic voice, this study examines how poetry written in a dialect can influence and thus develop students’ approaches to unseen poetry. Explored are the ways in which studying dialect poetry facilitates meaning-making within a ‘new typical poetry classroom’ that intertwines ideas of performance and analysis and how, by extension, this offers a space to reflect on students’ own identities and the world around them.