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When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne

Jan8

Just as I was making my way through this collection of poems by Winnie-the-Pooh creator, A.A. Milne, I saw someone fretting about reading these very poems as a part of her homeschool curriculum (Ambleside Online). She says they have been reading the poems aloud, and “Honestly I don’t get it. The kids ask me what it was about and I honestly have no clue.”

I sympathize. A lot of poetry used to make no sense to me. Then I learned to just enjoy the rhyme and the rhythm and the language and the word pictures for what they are: just fun, although sometimes serious or thoughtful, turning things round and upside down, and looking at the world from a different perspective. It doesn’t need to all make sense. The poems in When We Were Very Young look at life from a child’s point of view, a British child of the early twentieth century, and that can be disorienting. But it can also be fun.

Have you ever thought about the clouds looking up at the green sky? What about a mother who gets lost because she won’t obey her son with a ridiculously long name? What’s the one thing you think you would remember from a trip to the zoo? (“But I gave buns to elephant when I went down to the zoo!“) And what is the matter with Mary Jane? And what would you do if you were king (or queen)?

These poems aren’t meant to be got (understood). They are just intended to be enjoyed. I recommend When Were Very Young and the other Milne collection of poems, Now We Are Six, for family read aloud to all ages. A poem a day keeps the doctor away. Just read the poem out loud in your very best rhythmic and ridiculous voice. No commentary or explanation. If they ask, ask them what they think. Just read and move along. Think of them as nursery rhymes, for that is what they are, and jolly good ones, too.

When We Were Very Young was first published in 1924, and I read it as part of our 1924 project. 100 years after its first appearance, this book of silly little poems is still a living book.

Poet of the Day: Eve Merriam

Jul19

Whatever you do, find ways to read poetry. Eat it, drink it, enjoy it, and share it.

I find it difficult to sit still when I hear poetry or read it out loud. I feel a tingling feeling all over, particularly in the tips of my fingers and in my toes, and it just seems to go right from my mouth all the way through my body. It’s like a shot of adrenalin or oxygen when I hear rhymes and word play.

~Eve Merriam

Poet Eve Merriam was born July 19, 1916. She is the author of three books in my library. Epaminondas and A Gaggle of Geese are listed in my Picture Book Preschool curriculum book and are favorites of mine to read aloud. I also have Ms. Merriam’s book 12 Ways to Get to 11, a delightful book that combines mathematics and poetry and imagination.

Eve Merriam was well known as a children’s poet. She wrote several collections of poetry for young people, including Blackberry Ink, The Inner City Mother Goose, Funny Time, Higgle Wiggle: Happy Rhymes, and It Doesn’t Always Have to Rhyme, as well as many picture books and nonfiction biographies and nature books for children. However, she also wrote poetry for adults and had her work published in magazines and journals such as Poetry Magazine. The following poem, The Escape, comes from the October 1940 edition of Poetry Magazine.

THE ESCAPE

Suddenly in the subway
not having had time to purchase a paper at the newsstand
and having read all the car-cards
(even the Alka-Seltzer verse ones)
I came face to face with my immortal soul
and since it was three stations until my stop
I grew worried;
until I saw a boy passing through the various trains
distributing leaflets upon constipation and cure;
they were printed on both sides, with fine close print at the bottom,
so there was nothing to worry about really, nothing at all.

What a narrow escape! Nowadays, she would always be accompanied by her cellphone to distract from thoughts too dreadful to contemplate. I do recommend Ms. Merriam’s children’s books and poetry not as a distraction, but rather to encounter whimsy and perhaps even thoughts of immortality.

Picture Book Preschool is a preschool/kindergarten curriculum which consists of a list of picture books to read aloud for each week of the year and a character trait, a memory verse, and activities, all tied to the theme for the week. You can purchase an updated, downloadable version (pdf file) of Picture Book Preschool by Sherry Early at Biblioguides.

Poet of the Day: W.H. Davies

Jul3

Born on this date, July 3, 1871, was William Henry Davies, a Welshman, who spent his young life as a self-avowed “tramp”–until he lost his leg in an accident while trying to jump a freight train in Canada. His autobiography was titled The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp. Davies was friends with and/or praised by such well known literary figures as George Bernard Shaw, Hilaire Belloc, Walter de la Mare, and Ezra Pound, but his poetry is mostly forgotten or deemed “unsophisticated”.

Leisure

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad day light,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No Joke, But Rather Poetry

Apr1

“Poetry is like making a joke. If you get one word wrong at the end of a joke, you’ve lost the whole thing.”
–W.S. Merwin

“The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year.”
–Mark Twain

“April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.”
– T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land, 1922

April is National Poetry Month, and I intend to give you a gift this month: a poem a day and a suggested poetry book or poetical thought each day. If I miss a day, forgive me. If my poetical selections displease you, again forgive. If you enjoy deceptively simple poetry and light verse that’s not always so light and meaning cloaked in the language of poetry, you might have a good time celebrating National Poetry Month with me.

Summer Reading Challenge: Poets and Poetry

Jun12

I’m sponsoring a summer reading challenge in my library. The rules are as follows:

Out of the forty categories listed, choose the number your child intends to complete, one book per category from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.Children in grades K-12 can choose to read 10, 20, 30 or 40 books between June 1, 2019 and August 31, 2019. Books must be recorded and responses given on the official record sheet. You do not have to check out your books from Meriadoc Homeschool Library, but many categories may be easier to find in MHSL than in other libraries or at home. Books can be read and recorded in any order you choose.

The second category for this challenge is “a book about poetry or about a poet.”

What Is Poetry? The Essential Guide to Reading and Writing Poems by Michael Rosen. If you’re interested writing your own poetry (or song lyrics), this book is a great guide for getting started. It covers definitions, ways to start a poem, editing, technical points about reading and writing poems, and more. Summer is a great time for daydreaming and brainstorming and writing poetry.

Picture books and picture book biographies of famous poets:
A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jennifer Bryant. Williams was both a doctor and poet, and his life story as told in this picture book is inspirational and absorbing.

Emily by Michael Bedard. This picture book is a fiction story about Emily Dickinson and the little girl who lives across the street from Emily and comes to visit one day. Such a good story.

Custard the Dragon by Ogden Nash. One of my favorite poems just for fun.

Belinda lived in a little white house,
With a little black kitten and a little gray mouse,
And a little yellow dog and a little red wagon,
And a realio, trulio, little pet dragon.

Biographies for chapter book readers:
Phillis Wheatley : Young Colonial Poet by Helen Ross Speicher. In the Childhood of Famous Americans series, this biography tells about the first African American women to have her poetry published and acclaimed in colonial America.

James Whitcomb Riley: Hoosier Boy (Childhood of Famous Americans) by Minnie Belle Mitchell. Another COFA that you can pair with the picture book version of Riley’s poem, The Gobble-Uns ‘ll Git You Ef You Don’t Watch Out! James Whitcomb Riley’s Little Orphant Annie.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, His Life by Catherine Owens Peare. I love Longfellow, and this is a great biography, easy to read but really informative. I think if you read a couple of Longfellow’s poems together, children will be interested in learning more about the poet. The picture book that goes with this biography is Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Poetry and fiction:
The Mouse of Amherst by Elizabeth Spires. Another fiction book about Emily Dickinson and her friend; this time the friend is a little mouse who lives in Emily’s house.

May B. by Caroline Starr Rose. “When a failed wheat crop nearly bankrupts the Betterly family, Pa pulls twelve-year-old May from school and hires her out to a couple new to the Kansas frontier.” Verse novels are stories written in poetic form, usually free verse. The poems tell the story, and this one is a good tribute to perseverance and determination. Two other verse novels that I can recommend are Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate and Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech.

I have lots of other poetry books in my library. I didn’t even get to the regular poetry collections like Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends and others and the subject-related collections of poems, for example Beat the Drum, Independence Day Has Come and Marvelous Math: A Book of Poems, both by Lee Bennett Hopkins.

What are your favorite poetry-related books?

If by Rudyard Kipling

Apr7

If by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Giovanni Manna. Creative Editions, 2014.

Read the poem If at Poetry Foundation.

Michael Caine reads and comments on the poem If.

I’m a big fan of poems made into picture books with nice, full page or double spread illustrations for each line or couplet or quatrain of the poem. This edition of the famous poem If by Kipling is a fine example of the genre. Italian illustrator Giovanni Manna “has made illustrations for more than 80 books for children since 1995. His work has been featured in exhibitions throughout Italy and internationally, from Bratislava to Britain. He teaches watercolor at the International School of Illustration in Sarmede and was awarded the Andersen Prize for best Italian illustrator in 2003.” (Biographical information from the book jacket.)

Kipling, of course, is one of England’s best known poets and storytellers. This book begins with a biographical note about Kipling, specifically about Kipling and the poem If and Kipling’s son, John, for whom the poem was written. The story of Kipling’s son is also well known, but in case you’ve never heard it, the short version is that John was raised to become a soldier or a sailor but because of poor eyesight, he did not qualify to join the military at the outbreak of World War I. His father, already a famous author and man of influence, pulled some strings to get 17-year old John into the Irish Guards and after brief training, John was sent to the front lines in Belgium. John Kipling died in September, 1915 during the Battle of Loos.

If you want to read more about Kipling and his son, you might try Kipling’s Choice by Geert Spillebeen. I read this book a couple of years ago, but never got around to reviewing it. It’s a fictional account of John’s life and death and his relationship with his father.

However, back to the poem. It’s about a controversial subject: what it takes to become a man. The illustrations all show a boy, a small boy dwarfed by a big world. And that’s the feel of the poem, too. The “son” to whom the poem is addressed can hardly expect to live up to all that the poet enjoins him to do to become a real man. And yet the expectations in the poem are good, even reasonable, the kinds of things we would all want to do and be: a good loser, a hard worker, a persevering leader, a decent person. If we could do all of these things, then we would truly be the men and women God created us to be.

But. There’s very little room for failure in Kipling’s vision of the true man. He does allow that others might break or destroy the things you have labored to build, but that you might fail in your own endeavors to be courageous, diligent, cool-headed, and virtuous—this doesn’t seem to be a part of the poet’s vision. I wonder IF Rudyard Kipling thought about mercy and forgiveness and starting again after our own sin and failure bring us to tragedy and included those things in his philosophy of maturity and growth after the death of his son. Many have blamed the father for the son’s death, and perhaps Kipling himself felt the need for mercy after the death of his son. (After his son’s death, Kipling wrote in a poem, “If any question why we died / Tell them, because our fathers lied.”)

If is an inspiring poem, and Mr. Manni’s pictures add to the poignancy and imaginative influence of the poem. Poetry picture books are a great way to introduce yourself or your children to the classic poems of the English language. I’m going to feature several more during April, National Poetry Month. What are your favorite picture books that feature poetry, preferably a single poem?

The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson

Apr6

The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Julie Morstad. Simply Read Books, 2012.

This board book edition of Stevenson’s classic poem was recommended in the Reshelving Alexandria Facebook group in a discussion of picture book poetry books. I’m pleased to have found a copy to order for my own library.

The illustrations in this one, as you can see from the cover, are wistful, childlike, and enticing—just like the poem. The colors and natural landscape are spring-like, and the children, boys and girls, are multicultural and just sweet-looking. The poem is found in Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses and in many other children’s collections, but I’ll reproduce it here for your enjoyment and convenience.

The Swing
BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside—

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown—
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!

Now I want to go find a swing and celebrate the sixth day of poetry month by swinging and reciting.

I’m reviewing and highlighting poetry picture books this month on Semicolon in honor of Poetry Month. What’s your favorite poetry-related picture book?

A River of Words by Jen Bryant

Apr3

A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet. Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2008. 32 pages.

“By stripping away unnecessary details, Williams tried to ‘see the thing itself . . . with great intensity and perception.'” ~Author’s Note, A River of Words by Jen Bryant

“Then I looked to a big box of discarded books I had from a library sale. One of the books had beautiful endpapers and I did a small painting on it. Then I took a book cover, ripped it off, and painted more. The book covers became my canvas, and any ephemera I had been saving for one day became fodder for the collages.” ~Illustrator’s Note, A River of Words, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

My youngest daughter, Z-baby, says her favorite poem is William Carlos Williams’ brief meditation on the distilled essence of common things that begins with the words: “so much depends/ upon/ a red wheel/ barrow . . .” This picture book biography distills Mr. Williams’ life down to the bare essentials, but it nevertheless tells and implies so much about the man and about his poetry. In the book, I learned:

–that Williams became a doctor, of obstetrics and pediatrics, so that he could make a living and still write poetry in his spare time.

–that Mr. Williams loved poetry from his boyhood days in Rutherford, New Jersey.

–that the poet made friends with other poets: Ezra Pound, Hilda Doolittle, Charles DeMuth, and Marianne Moore.

–that William Carlos Williams lived a busy life of keen observation and “rivers of words”.

Several of Williams’ poems are featured on the end papers of the books, and quotes from his poems are woven into the text and into the collage illustrations. (If you are shocked by the quotation from Ms. Sweet about the wanton destruction of books to make her artwork, I choose to believe that the books she used were already too damaged to be shelved or read.) Without Melissa Sweet’s pictures, this book would be interesting but ephemeral. However, the illustrations complement and enhance the text so well that the book is destined to become a classic in the picture book biography genre. It already won the following awards back in 2009 when it was published:

2009 Caldecott Honor Book
An ALA Notable Book
A New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book
A Charlotte Zolotow Honor Book
NCTE Notable Children’s Book

And to those awards I add my kudos. I bought a copy of A River of Words for my library, but I think I will need to buy another copy for Z-baby. (And maybe one for my son-in-law, the poet.)

There is also a book about William Carlos Williams in the Poetry for Young People series that would be a good follow-up for “young people” who are intrigued by this introduction to his life and work. If you are interested in purchasing ($5.00) a curated list of favorite picture book biographies with over 300 picture books about all sorts of different people, email me at sherryDOTpray4youATgmailDOTcom.

I’m reviewing and highlighting poetry picture books this month on Semicolon in honor of Poetry Month. What’s your favorite poetry-related picture book?

Poetry for Fools

Apr1

It’s National Poetry Month, and it’s also the first of April, April Fool’s Day. So here is a selection of foolish poetry for celebrating the day.

THE ICHTHYOSAURUS

There once was an Ichthyosaurus
Who lived when the earth was all porous,
But he fainted with shame
When he first heard his name,
And departed a long time before us.

Come on in, the Senility is Fine
by Ogden Nash

People live forever in Jacksonville and St. Petersburg and Tampa,
But you don’t have to live forever to become a grampa.
The entrance requirements for grampahood are comparatively mild,
You only have to live until your child has a child.
From that point on you start looking both ways over your shoulder,
Because sometimes you feel thirty years younger and sometimes
thirty years older.
Now you begin to realize who it was that reached the height of
imbecility,
It was whoever said that grandparents have all the fun and none of
the responsibility.
This is the most enticing spiderweb of a tarradiddle ever spun,
Because everybody would love to have a baby around who was no
responsibility and lots of fun,
But I can think of no one but a mooncalf or a gaby
Who would trust their own child to raise a baby.
So you have to personally superintend your grandchild from diapers
to pants and from bottle to spoon,
Because you know that your own child hasn’t sense enough to come
in out of a typhoon.
You don’t have to live forever to become a grampa, but if you do
want to live forever,
Don’t try to be clever;
If you wish to reach the end of the trail with an uncut throat,
Don’t go around saying Quote I don’t mind being a grampa but I
hate being married to a gramma Unquote.

APRIL FOOL’S DAY

The first of April, some do say,
Is set apart for All Fools’ day
But why the people call it so
Nor I, nor they themselves, do know.

THE SNAIL’S DREAM by Oliver Hereford

A snail who had a way, it seems,
Of dreaming very curious dreams,
Once dream’t he was—you’ll never guess!—
The Lightning Limited Express.

THE OSTRICH by Mary Wilkins Freeman

The Ostrich is a silly bird
With scarcely any mind.
He often runs so very fast
He leaves himself behind.

And when he gets there, has to stand
And hang about till night,
Without a blessed thing to do
Until he comes in sight.

DADDY FELL INTO THE POND by Alfred Noyes

Everyone grumbled. The sky was grey.
We had nothing to do and nothing to say.
We were nearing the end of a dismal day,
And then there seemed to be nothing beyond,
Then
Daddy fell into the pond!

And everyone’s face grew merry and bright,
And Timothy danced for sheer delight.
“Give me the camera, quick, oh quick!
He’s crawling out of the duckweed!” Click!

Then the gardener suddenly slapped his knee,
And doubled up, shaking silently,
And the ducks all quacked as if they were daft,
And it sounded as if the old drake laughed.
Oh, there wasn’t a thing that didn’t respond
When
Daddy Fell into the pond!

Have a good laugh today! Happy April Fool’s Day!

Christopher Smart, b. April 11, 1722, d.1771

Apr11

April is National Poetry Month.

Christopher Smart, a 16th century poet and writer of popular songs, was said to be mentally disturbed, confined for some period of time to a mental institution, but nevertheless a talented poet and perhaps just the unfortunate victim of enemies who wanted him out of the way. He wrote a famous free verse poem called Jubilate Agno, part of which is about his cat, Jeoffry, and how said cat worshipped the Lord. The book pictured below is one I have in my library, and it contains the part of Jubilate Agno that is about Jeoffry the cat. Smart also wrote a poem called A Song to David about David and the Psalms and how God speaks through the psalms of David.

Excerpt from Smart’s poem, A Song to David

Glorious the sun in mid career;
Glorious th’ assembled fires appear;
Glorious the comet’s train:
Glorious the trumpet and alarm;
Glorious th’ almighty stretch’d-out arm;
Glorious th’ enraptur’d main:

Glorious the northern lights a-stream;
Glorious the song, when God’s the theme;
Glorious the thunder’s roar:
Glorious hosanna from the den;
Glorious the catholic amen;
Glorious the martyr’s gore:

Glorious—-more glorious is the crown
Of Him that brought salvation down
By meekness, call’d thy Son;
Thou that stupendous truth believ’d,
And now the matchless deed’s achiev’d,
Determin’d, dar’d, and done.

Samuel Johnson on Christopher Smart, from The Life of Johnson:

“Madness frequently discovers itself merely by unnecessary deviation from the usual modes of the world. My poor friend Smart showed the disturbance of his mind, by falling upon his knees, and saying his prayers in the street, or in any other unusual place. Now although, rationally speaking, it is greater madness not to pray at all, than to pray as Smart did, I am afraid there are so many who do not pray, that their understanding is not called in question.”

Concerning this unfortunate poet, Christopher Smart, Johnson had, at another time, the following conversation with Dr. Burney:

BURNEY. “How does poor Smart do, Sir; is he likely to recover?”
JOHNSON. “It seems as if his mind had ceased to struggle with the disease; for he grows fat upon it.”
BURNEY. “Perhaps, Sir, that may be from want of exercise.”
JOHNSON. “No, Sir; he has partly as much exercise as he used to have, for he digs in the garden. Indeed, before his confinement, he used for exercise to walk to the alehouse; but he was carried back again. I did not think he ought to be shut up. His infirmities were not noxious to society. He insisted on people praying with him; and I’d as lief pray with Kit Smart as any one else. Another charge was, that he did not love clean linen; and I have no passion for it.”

I’d as lief pray with Kit Smart as any one else. Indeed.