Eight poems worth learning

Also: looking for young Tolkien fans

London children who love Tolkien?

Before we get to the poems, a reader in SW London has a son, 12, who is very keen on Tolkien but is struggling to find likeminded friends who share his enthusiasm. Obviously someone nearby would be ideal, but possibly children further afield who could keep in touch by email (or post!) might also be of interest.

If you have a young Tolkien fan, please leave a comment or send me an email (reply to this post if you got it in your inbox), and I’ll put you in touch.

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Eight poems worth learning

Often the thing that stops the children (and me!) learning poetry is that I can’t seem to pick a poem. I want to find the perfect poem. Perfect for the time of year, or for our current history topic, or just perfect for the children’s age and abilities. And also a poem that is one of The Great Poems, because why waste your time learning anything else?

But the search for perfection often just slows us down and stops us learning anything. Of course, learning a good poem is better than learning no poem at all.

So in case it saves you any time, here are the poems we’ve been learning recently. We’re currently learning one per week. What’s driving this enthusiasm? Cold hard cash. The children get £1 per poem, and they’re saving up for a big Lego Hogwarts set, so they’re very motivated. Interestingly, although the money helps to encourage them to get started, once they know the poem they actually love reciting it. The bribe seems to work as a nudge in the face of initial reluctance, but doesn’t destroy their enjoyment once they’ve committed the lines to memory.

I’ve linked to any that aren’t in the public domain.

An emerald is as green as grass, by Christina Rossetti (1872)

An emerald is as green as grass;
A ruby red as blood;
A sapphire shines as blue as heaven;
A flint lies in the mud.
A diamond is a brilliant stone,
To catch the world's desire;
An opal holds a fiery spark;
But a flint holds fire.

The Porcupine, by Ogden Nash (20th century)

I know a bank, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare (1600)

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lull’d in these flowers with dances and delight;
And there the snake throws her enamell’d skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in:
And with the juice of this I’ll streak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantasies.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost (1923)

From a Railway Carriage, by RL Stevenson (1885)

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
And charging along like troops in a battle,
All through the meadows the horses and cattle:
All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by.

Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,
All by himself and gathering brambles;
Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;
And there is the green for stringing the daisies!
Here is a cart run away in the road
Lumping along with man and load;
And here is a mill and there is a river:
Each a glimpse and gone for ever!

But soft what light, from Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare (1597)

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she. […]

It is my lady, O, it is my love! […]

See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!
O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!

Captain of our fairy band, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Captain of our fairy band,
Helena is here at hand,
And the youth, mistook by me,
Pleading for a lover's fee.
Shall we their fond pageant see?
Lord, what fools these mortals be!

Some One, by Walter de la Mare (1913)

From The Song of Hiawatha, by Longfellow (1855)

Many things Nokomis taught him
Of the stars that shine in heaven;
Showed him Ishkoodah, the comet,
Ishkoodah, with fiery tresses;
Showed the Death-Dance of the spirits,
Warriors with their plumes and war-clubs,
Flaring far away to northward
In the frosty nights of Winter;
Showed the broad white road in heaven,
Pathway of the ghosts, the shadows,
Running straight across the heavens,
Crowded with the ghosts, the shadows.

The Eagle by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1851)

(A bonus ninth poem that we only learnt last week but I somehow forgot to include when I wrote this post earlier today!)

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

Please do share your own favourite poems to learn by heart!

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Next post, good books about the American Revolution. If you have recommendations, please share in the comments and I’ll add them to the list.

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The image for this post is by Lee Lufkin Kaula.