Introducing children to poetry

 

By Eloïse Poulton
Theatre & Film Director, Oppidan mentor

Poetry is everywhere.

It’s used to sell to us, to make us pay attention. It’s our favourite song lyrics and the quotes we carry with us for comfort. It can go viral – but sometimes, no one will ever read it at all.

What I love about a really good poem, the kind that rings in your ears long after you’ve read it, is that the ones we connect with find a home with each new reader they encounter. In this way, they live forever. Through offering their truth, they give you something personal. Discovering a poem you like is receiving a gift from the universe. 

When I was choosing these poems, I wanted to select across different time periods; from poets writing in English, but not all from the UK; and to bring together distinctly different poetic voices, using different structures to communicate themselves. Perhaps you will find a common thread in the poems’ themes.

My tips for reading poetry

  • Read it aloud and read it in your head. Each new encounter will offer something different.

  • Remember that the poem wants to connect with you: it’s not expecting you to understand it straight away, or even at all. 

  • Find one thing you like, then try to describe why. Is it a rhyme? A particular word choice? An image which immediately appears in your mind’s eye?

  • Pay attention to the line endings, particularly when they end with a word which doesn’t have a rhyme. Why has the poet chosen to end the lines where they have? Are they starting a new thought, introducing a new feeling, creating a movement away from or towards something? 

  • Consider learning a poem you love off by heart. It’s totally worth it: it will live, rent-free, in your head, there to conjure whenever you want.

  • Try writing your own poem, perhaps inspired by one in this collection. Don’t worry about whether or not it’s good: just be true to yourself, and it will come alive.

Here are three poems to read with your child:

 

The London Breed

Benjamin Zephaniah (2001)

I love dis great polluted place 

world of food displayed on streets 

Where pop stars come to live their dreams  

Where all the world can come and dine 

Here ravers come for drum and bass 

On meals that end with bitter sweets 

And politicians plan their schemes, 

And cultures melt and intertwine, 

The music of the world is here 

Two hundred languages give voice 

Dis city can play any song 

To fifteen thousand changing years 

They came to here from everywhere 

And all religions can rejoice 

Tis they that made dis city strong. 

With exiled souls and pioneers. 

 

Hope

Emily Dickinson (1891)

‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers - 

That perches in the soul - 

And sings the tune without the words - 

And never stops - at all - 

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - 

And sore must be the storm - 

That could abash the little Bird 

That kept so many warm - 

I’ve heard it in the chillest land - 

And on the strangest Sea - 

Yet - never - in Extremity, 

It asked a crumb - of me. 

 

Praise Song for My Mother

Grace Nichols (1983)

You were 

water to me 

deep and bold and fathoming  

You were 

moon’s eye to me 

pull and grained and mantling 

You were 

sunrise to me 

rise and warm and streaming 

You were 

the fishes red gill to me 

the flame tree’s spread to me 

the crab’s leg/the fried plantain smell 

replenishing replenishing  

Go to your wide futures, you said 

 

Questions to ask

Why have I chosen this poem to give to you?

What can you draw from this poem?

What themes can you draw from this poem?

Why do you think the poet has written the poem in this way?

What excites you about this poem?

What do you think of the main character?

How can we relate this poem to our lives today?

What literary technique is being used here and why?

Can you relate this to anything going on in the news at the moment?

Would you rather be a poet or an author? Why?

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