When my children were small, a sure-fire way to drive their daddy crazy was to chant, especially on long car trips. If you sit quietly at any playground and listen, you will not be able to miss some rhythmic, sing-song childish chorus, because children’s love of the cadence of language is as natural to them as breathing, which all advertisers take full advantage of with their unforgettable ditties.
In our tech savvy and productivity oriented culture, there is little time given for real poetry. Childhood is the ideal time to instill this pleasure, when attraction to language is strong and minds are fresh, uncluttered, and relish any new sound or idea. One of my own favorite childhood poets was Walter De La Mare. His short poems sprinkled the pages of our school readers and found their way into many anthologies for children. Indeed, he compiled a few collections of poetry for children himself.
The best way to begin to enjoy poetry is simply to read it aloud, however you like, and let the words fill your ears and teach you themselves how to love them. Here are three little poems to share with your children:
For the joy of reading,
Liz
You may also enjoy “What’s in a Poem“
I myself have come to enjoy poetry so much more after reading Christina Rossetti, A.A. Milne, and especially, Robert Louis Stevenson with my children. We've been sharing Emily Dickinson this last few months with each other and I've been surprised how we have enjoyed it, even though she is a bit more difficult. We've just begun reading one poem out of Helen Ferris' book together each morning. Lovely! 🙂 I will have to look more into Walter de la Mare…I've been looking at William Blake as our next poet, but not firm on that yet. One of our favorite poetry books has been , The Year Around: Poems for Children by Alice I. Hazeltine. 🙂
This comment has been removed by the author.
Thank you for your extra poetry titles as I am sure many will be looking for further poetry options. A day without poetry is not really worth living, in my opinion.
What a lovely post!
Thanks to Charlotte Mason's influence, we've been sip reading poetry books since the children were tiny, and are still including it in our morning family time reading during the teen years with the children doing ALL the reading.
Walter De La Mare remains a favourite.
Chelle,
Thanks for sharing. It makes me smile to know there are other families enjoying the music of words.
Liz
Liz, These are all new poems to me. Are they de la Mare's? (I've not read much of his poetry, but if these are his, I'm a new fan!)
Hi Kimberlee,
Yes, they are De La Mare's poems, just a little sample from his rich supply.
Liz