This poem was pasted on the wall of my Grade 11 high school classroom, and I was so enchanted by it I made the effort to memorize it. Many years later, it was one of the first poems I taught my children! (Or maybe they learned it because I'm still forever reciting it!) 🌬️🤍
I ask my university students to memorize poems, and this one is sometimes chosen by 18-year-olds who've never been asked to do such a thing before. It's beautiful for all ages. :-)
At that age I had an edition of *A Child’s Garden of Verses* that I loved, and I memorized at my mother’s suggestion “The Land of Counterpane.”
My children at this age enjoyed memorizing Blake’s “The Tyger.” We also all loved the collection *Poetry Speaks to Children,” which comes with a CD and has something like 90 poems, many read by the poets themselves—Nikki Giovanni, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Seamus Heaney, Yeats even!
Poetry Speaks to Children sounds brilliant, I will definitely see if I can track that down. I loved my edition of A Child’s Garden of Verses and happened to find the same edition for my own children, with the dreamy illustrations by Hilda Boswell.
Wonderful list Catherine! Have you discovered Mensa's "A Year of Living Poetically"? The site includes a list of poems which you can download in a pdf format (includes poem, analysis, and fill-in-the-blank practice). https://www.mensaforkids.org/read/a-year-of-living-poetically/
We particularly enjoyed A Psalm of Life (always made me tear up when students in my homeschool co-op recited this...)
This is their list:
“No Man is an Island” by John Donne
“Sonnet 116” by William Shakespeare
“The Road not Taken” by Robert Frost
“Invictus” by William Ernest Henley
“Death be not Proud” by John Donne
“Sonnet” by Edna St. Vincent Millay
“The Man in the Arena: Citizenship in a Republic” by Teddy Roosevelt
“Richard Cory” by Edward Arlington Robinson
“Hope is the Thing with Feathers” by Emily Dickinson
“A Psalm of Life” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“The Cloths of Heaven” by William Butler Yeats
“Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas
Kudos to you for encouraging children to memorize poems! As a literature professor, I taught poetry for years before I made a concerted effort to memorize a batch of them. I'm up to about 100. I don't need to convince you of the value, but I will make just one point. Being able to recite poems is more than a nifty parlor trick. (Do people still use this expression?) Knowing the lines can help make sense of the world around us. More than once in a conversation, I have reached into my memory to quote an appropriate passage from, say, Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" or Milton's "When I consider how my light is spent."
Anyway, I hope you don't mind if I recommend. few more poems for children to memorize:
"The Cuckoo Song" ("Sumer is i-cumin in")
"A Psalm of Life," by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The Owl and the Pussycat," by Edward Lear
"I like to see it lap the miles," by Emily Dickinson
"Success is counted sweetest," by Emily Dickinson
"A narrow fellow in the grass," by Emily Dickinson
"There is no Frigate like a Book," by Emily Dickinson
Teenagers can take on longer poems, as well as ones with more "adult themes." Here are a few suggestions:
"The Sun Rising," by John Donne
"The Flea," by John Donne
"Leda and the Swan," by William Butler Yeats
"The Second Coming," by William Butler Yeats
"Dulce et Decorum Est," by Wifred Owen
"Since there's no help, come let us kiss and part," by Michael Drayton
"To a Mouse," by Robert Burns
"Kubla Khan," by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
"Ulysses," by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
"If--," by Rudyard Kipling
"Ozymandias," by Percy Bysshe Shelley
"Not Waving but Drowning," by Stevie Smith
and, of course . . .
"Annabel Lee," by Edgar Allan Poe
I believe all or nearly all of these poems are available at poetryfoundation.org.
A few of the favourites in our house: Ozymandias, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Casabianca, Sea-Fever (John Masefield), Jabberwocky, A Psalm of Life (Longfellow).
Lots of these are on my list too, a great selection. We all love The Charge of the Light Brigade, such a good poem (especially for a boy who loves his war stories!).
It might be hard to find because it's out of print, but Felicity's World (published by American Girl). It gives a very good exploration of what life was like just prior to and during the Revolution from a child's perspective. Lots of pictures of artifacts from the era and short real-life stories about girls and women from the time period. Honestly, if you have a girl who's into historical fiction, the whole Felicity series is worth exploring. They also do a good job exploring things like how to respectfully and graciously hold your beliefs when those close to you disagree-- Felicity's best friend in the series comes from a Loyalist (wants to remain united with Britain ) family.
Not a book, but Liberty's Kids is a TV show free on YouTube that's SHOCKINGLY well done-- very nuanced, and depicts the war from the Loyalist and African American perspectives as well as from the Patriot one. The writers also went out of their way to bring in and quote a ton of actual accounts and writing from the time in the dialogue -- like I said, shockingly well done.
This all sounds fantastic, thank you so much! I love an out-of-print book recommendation - so many good books out there that are invisible unless you stumble across them in a second hand shop or some helpful person shares their knowledge!
Ode to Autumn by Keats has always been one of my favorites. Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Redemption by George Herbert brings a lump to my throat every time.
On the Revolutionary War, Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales is an outstanding graphic novel series to turn reluctant readers into close readers and rereaders, thanks to detailed, clever, and humorous relationships between the written story and the visuals. For families where kids are already avid readers, the appeal of the series is its historical accuracy and selection of details to interest tweens. As indicated by the titles (vol. 1 on the Revolutionary War is called "One Dead Spy"), the books have a sense of humor that appeals to even the most accomplished young readers. When my oldest was a tween, he spent a lot of time chuckling over these books and absorbing their history - one of his favorite subjects. My youngest never opened one; she checked out all the books in the library about fairies. When it came to history, she preferred biographies of accomplished women. Sorry - that was a whole review! And from your newer post, I see you've already got the series on your list. 😂
I started both of my kids with Shel Silverstein’s “Homemade Boat.” It’s short, funny, and we made up motions to go along with the words so it was easier to memorize. From there we’ve done so many good ones (some already mentioned)…Autumn Fires by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dreams by Langston Hughes, Dust of Snow by Robert Frost, The Morns are Meeker than They Were by Emily Dickinson. When my 6 year old excitedly pointed out a black bird on a snowy tree branch and started reciting Dust of Snow, I was overcome with joy in seeing the obvious reward of this whole homeschooling project.
One of my favorite poems is
Who Has Seen the Wind?
By Christina Rossetti
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.
When I do a nature study with children on the wind, I begin with this poem. Lovely!
Lovely. She has some great, short poems for children. Simple but not basic, if that makes sense.
My six year old is currently working on this one!
This poem was pasted on the wall of my Grade 11 high school classroom, and I was so enchanted by it I made the effort to memorize it. Many years later, it was one of the first poems I taught my children! (Or maybe they learned it because I'm still forever reciting it!) 🌬️🤍
I ask my university students to memorize poems, and this one is sometimes chosen by 18-year-olds who've never been asked to do such a thing before. It's beautiful for all ages. :-)
At that age I had an edition of *A Child’s Garden of Verses* that I loved, and I memorized at my mother’s suggestion “The Land of Counterpane.”
My children at this age enjoyed memorizing Blake’s “The Tyger.” We also all loved the collection *Poetry Speaks to Children,” which comes with a CD and has something like 90 poems, many read by the poets themselves—Nikki Giovanni, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Seamus Heaney, Yeats even!
Poetry Speaks to Children sounds brilliant, I will definitely see if I can track that down. I loved my edition of A Child’s Garden of Verses and happened to find the same edition for my own children, with the dreamy illustrations by Hilda Boswell.
I also loved A Child’s Garden of Verses but I memorised From a Railway Carriage 🥰
Wonderful list Catherine! Have you discovered Mensa's "A Year of Living Poetically"? The site includes a list of poems which you can download in a pdf format (includes poem, analysis, and fill-in-the-blank practice). https://www.mensaforkids.org/read/a-year-of-living-poetically/
We particularly enjoyed A Psalm of Life (always made me tear up when students in my homeschool co-op recited this...)
This is their list:
“No Man is an Island” by John Donne
“Sonnet 116” by William Shakespeare
“The Road not Taken” by Robert Frost
“Invictus” by William Ernest Henley
“Death be not Proud” by John Donne
“Sonnet” by Edna St. Vincent Millay
“The Man in the Arena: Citizenship in a Republic” by Teddy Roosevelt
“Richard Cory” by Edward Arlington Robinson
“Hope is the Thing with Feathers” by Emily Dickinson
“A Psalm of Life” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“The Cloths of Heaven” by William Butler Yeats
“Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas
This is brilliant Ruth, thank you. I hadn’t read A Psalm of Life before, what a great poem.
Thank you for this, Ruth!!! We are new to memorizing poetry but I have really started realizing the value of it. This resource is just what we need!
Not a Serious Literature poem but fun to recite aloud:
The cow mainly moos as she chooses to moo
And she chooses to moo as she chooses
She furthermore chews as she chooses to chew
And she chooses to chew as she muses
If she chooses to moo she may moo to amuse
Or may moo just to moo as she chooses
If she chooses to chew she may moo as she chews
Or may chew just to chew as she muses
(Jack Prelutsky)
Ha! I love that. Nothing wrong with fun poetry at all.
Kudos to you for encouraging children to memorize poems! As a literature professor, I taught poetry for years before I made a concerted effort to memorize a batch of them. I'm up to about 100. I don't need to convince you of the value, but I will make just one point. Being able to recite poems is more than a nifty parlor trick. (Do people still use this expression?) Knowing the lines can help make sense of the world around us. More than once in a conversation, I have reached into my memory to quote an appropriate passage from, say, Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" or Milton's "When I consider how my light is spent."
Anyway, I hope you don't mind if I recommend. few more poems for children to memorize:
"The Cuckoo Song" ("Sumer is i-cumin in")
"A Psalm of Life," by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"The Owl and the Pussycat," by Edward Lear
"I like to see it lap the miles," by Emily Dickinson
"Success is counted sweetest," by Emily Dickinson
"A narrow fellow in the grass," by Emily Dickinson
"There is no Frigate like a Book," by Emily Dickinson
Teenagers can take on longer poems, as well as ones with more "adult themes." Here are a few suggestions:
"The Sun Rising," by John Donne
"The Flea," by John Donne
"Leda and the Swan," by William Butler Yeats
"The Second Coming," by William Butler Yeats
"Dulce et Decorum Est," by Wifred Owen
"Since there's no help, come let us kiss and part," by Michael Drayton
"To a Mouse," by Robert Burns
"Kubla Khan," by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
"Ulysses," by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
"If--," by Rudyard Kipling
"Ozymandias," by Percy Bysshe Shelley
"Not Waving but Drowning," by Stevie Smith
and, of course . . .
"Annabel Lee," by Edgar Allan Poe
I believe all or nearly all of these poems are available at poetryfoundation.org.
For next post (good books on the American Revolution): Rabble In Arms by Kenneth Roberts.
Cargoes - John Masefield
One of my favourites. Such magical, evocative words. Quinquireme of Ninevah…
Love Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening! We also memorised The Road Not Taken.
Another I'd add to this list, for your Tolkien fan...
the "All that that is Gold does not Glitter..." poem from Fellowship of the Ring.
I like that a lot Chrysti, thank you.
A few of the favourites in our house: Ozymandias, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Casabianca, Sea-Fever (John Masefield), Jabberwocky, A Psalm of Life (Longfellow).
Lots of these are on my list too, a great selection. We all love The Charge of the Light Brigade, such a good poem (especially for a boy who loves his war stories!).
American Revolution book recommendation:
It might be hard to find because it's out of print, but Felicity's World (published by American Girl). It gives a very good exploration of what life was like just prior to and during the Revolution from a child's perspective. Lots of pictures of artifacts from the era and short real-life stories about girls and women from the time period. Honestly, if you have a girl who's into historical fiction, the whole Felicity series is worth exploring. They also do a good job exploring things like how to respectfully and graciously hold your beliefs when those close to you disagree-- Felicity's best friend in the series comes from a Loyalist (wants to remain united with Britain ) family.
Not a book, but Liberty's Kids is a TV show free on YouTube that's SHOCKINGLY well done-- very nuanced, and depicts the war from the Loyalist and African American perspectives as well as from the Patriot one. The writers also went out of their way to bring in and quote a ton of actual accounts and writing from the time in the dialogue -- like I said, shockingly well done.
This all sounds fantastic, thank you so much! I love an out-of-print book recommendation - so many good books out there that are invisible unless you stumble across them in a second hand shop or some helpful person shares their knowledge!
Ode to Autumn by Keats has always been one of my favorites. Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Redemption by George Herbert brings a lump to my throat every time.
My 9 year old is working on Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Go with Kipling's 'If' if you've got boys. Maybe even if you don't.
Great suggestions!
On the subject of poems to memorize, I do this with my students, too. Last fall I asked Substackers for suggestions and came up with a landslide of ideas. I sorted them into short and metrical ones at the top of the list. In case you or any of your readers are curious, that list is here: https://open.substack.com/pub/tarapenry/p/memorizing-poems?r=1mk0zn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false (I've just added your post to it, if that's ok with you.)
On the Revolutionary War, Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales is an outstanding graphic novel series to turn reluctant readers into close readers and rereaders, thanks to detailed, clever, and humorous relationships between the written story and the visuals. For families where kids are already avid readers, the appeal of the series is its historical accuracy and selection of details to interest tweens. As indicated by the titles (vol. 1 on the Revolutionary War is called "One Dead Spy"), the books have a sense of humor that appeals to even the most accomplished young readers. When my oldest was a tween, he spent a lot of time chuckling over these books and absorbing their history - one of his favorite subjects. My youngest never opened one; she checked out all the books in the library about fairies. When it came to history, she preferred biographies of accomplished women. Sorry - that was a whole review! And from your newer post, I see you've already got the series on your list. 😂
My first introduction to poetry from lit class was rather memorable - free verse.
The Red Wheelbarrow
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens
The first time I saw this I thought to myself: Poetry seems easy enough, right?
I couldn’t be more wrong.
I started both of my kids with Shel Silverstein’s “Homemade Boat.” It’s short, funny, and we made up motions to go along with the words so it was easier to memorize. From there we’ve done so many good ones (some already mentioned)…Autumn Fires by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dreams by Langston Hughes, Dust of Snow by Robert Frost, The Morns are Meeker than They Were by Emily Dickinson. When my 6 year old excitedly pointed out a black bird on a snowy tree branch and started reciting Dust of Snow, I was overcome with joy in seeing the obvious reward of this whole homeschooling project.
We love Dust of Snow too!