Luanne Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 Neither myself or my daughter seem to be able to get into reading poetry. I have been trying honestly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Closeacademy Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 Have you tried Shel Silverstein? He wrote the book Where the Sidewalk Ends. Start with something fun like this then dive into something like Christina Rossetti. From there you can really go anywhere. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5wolfcubs Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 My 11yo likes to read and write it...the rest will listen to me read it but have no further interest. I have a link for you: Dr. Rampey's Quick and Dirty Guide to Reading Poetry Very helpful and reading the "A Forest Hymn" using these ideas...well, I go all choked up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Atl Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 Maybe try to listen to Shakespeare on audio. Often this can be a gentle way to ease into poetry. Having more of a story at first can help you become comfortable with verse. Also there are a number of kids/young adult poems on audio as well. The other two post have wonderful ideas too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephanie Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 Neither myself or my daughter seem to be able to get into reading poetry. I have been trying honestly. I don't know how old your dd is, but we act out our poems sometimes. I read it to them, and then they each get a turn to act it out as I read it again. Also, a mom here (I'm sorry I can't remember her name) had a great idea. She does a tea time with her kids and reads poetry during that time. I bought this tiny tea set on sale at World Market, and made that out tea time set. The kids get sooooo excited for poetry when we have tea time. I actually will do coffee or hot chocolate, and a little snack. The mom who thought of this deserves kudos b/c it's made poetry time special at my house! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 We love it. If you can find it, give Moon Have You Met My Mother? by Karla Kuskin a try. It's available used for next to nothing. It contains our all time favourite poem (from memory... I might not have it quite right): Buggity, Buggity, Bug Buggity, buggity, bug Wandering aimlessly, buggishly smug When all of a sudden along comes a shoe Out with another shoe, wandering too The shoes go on wandering Left, right, left, SPLAT! Bugs very frequently perish like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Theophan Academy Posted April 14, 2008 Share Posted April 14, 2008 What age and what poetry have you tried? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OhM Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 The Poetry for Young People series. Each book features a different poet or theme. The books begin with brief biographies linking the poems with the poet and the world at the time. It's made all the difference for us. And it caused my then 10yo dd to ask for a book of Edward Lear poetry for Christmas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asher Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 It's not exactly classical literature :P, but we LOVED Oddhopper Opera. It was really a neat book and got thumbs up by both my dc's and that's a diverse group. LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama Anna Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 Not to hijack the thread, but I've another question similar to Luann's: What's the point of poetry? I mean, I love prose and I enjoy pretty hefty, meaty prose at times. But I've never figured out (probably due to my near-total lack of exposure to poetry) why someone would write something in verse (unless they wished to sing it) when they could just write it in prose without the trouble of rhyming and meter. Is this too "Duh!" to ask? Please be gentle; maybe what I really need is a literary lecture . . . Of course, my personality is so goal-oriented that it's sometimes hard for me to "get" something if I don't see the goal of it . . . Tentatively, Mama Anna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamato3 all-boy boys Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 My 11yo likes to read and write it...the rest will listen to me read it but have no further interest. I have a link for you: Dr. Rampey's Quick and Dirty Guide to Reading Poetry Very helpful and reading the "A Forest Hymn" using these ideas...well, I go all choked up! That is a fantastic resource, Lee! Although we have been enjoying the poetry we've read this year, these are excellent tips! Thanks for posting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyBC Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 My kids like Jack Prelutsky and Douglas Florian. They might be accessible authors to try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tampamommy Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 The Llama Who Had No Pajama (by Mary Ann Hoberman, ISBN 0-15-200111-5) is a marvelously fun poetry book for children of all ages! It has 100 poems - and they are not only great to hear aloud, they are tremendously fun to read aloud in animated, rhythmic fashion. Ds 11.5 and dd 9.5 have enjoyed these since they were about 4 and 2 respectively. It is a favorite in our home...and likely always will be! Hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelroper Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 Dd loves poetry. This one has been a favorite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Theophan Academy Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 Not too "duh" of a question at all! I suppose you could answer with many reasons - the one that comes to my mind is: I think we all have a God-given drive to yearn for order and beauty. Poetry is a natural expression of the amazing creativity of man - who I believe was created in the image of God. God is the ultimate creator, and since we are made in his image, we also yearn to create. The point is the same as the reason for a beautiful symphony or a magnificent work of art. We all in some way (some more than others) desire to create or express - and for some this comes in the form of the precision, order and beauty of words set to rhyme and meter. And for me, the central point of poetry in school is to learn to appreciate order and beauty in man and creation. Here is my post on how we do poetry in our school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 I read poetry to my young boys every day, but we keep to simple poems. Right now we are reading An Arkful of Animals (selected by William Cole). Before that we did: A Child’s Garden of Verses (Robert Louis Stevenson) [Alice & Martin Provensen] Nursery Rhymes (Selected by Marie) [i own] Poems and Prayers for the Very Young (Selected by Martha Alexander) [i own] Puddle Wonderful: Poems to Welcome Spring (Selected by Bobbi Katz) [i own] I also love Rod and Staff's poetry for children. We all love these simple poems. Shel Silverstein is great too! My oldest son and I studied the poetry unit by Progeny Press and enjoyed it for the most part. He really took to ballads, though, memorizing the Charge of the Light Brigade and then writing his own ballad about World War II. Sometimes there's one thing our boys really take to. Neither one of us enjoy poems that REALLY need to be studied. I am one who studied much of renaissance sonnets and other poetry, romance poetry and such -- writing a five page paper on one sonnet. But, I still don't get to thrilled by them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 I recommend The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. DD really enjoys it, and it has some of my childhood faves in it. The copy I have actually is from my own childhood, and the spine broke off. I plan on ordering a new copy soon, we need it because DD likes picking poems for memory work from it. It has a fun mix of traditional/classic poems, nursery rhymes, and nonsense poems, with modern stuff. Another thing to do is to check out illustrated children's books based on good, fun poems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhesa Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 I recommend The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. DD really enjoys it, and it has some of my childhood faves in it. The copy I have actually is from my own childhood, and the spine broke off. I plan on ordering a new copy soon, we need it because DD likes picking poems for memory work from it. It has a fun mix of traditional/classic poems, nursery rhymes, and nonsense poems, with modern stuff. Another thing to do is to check out illustrated children's books based on good, fun poems. I'm seconding this book. I use it with my 5 and 7 yo children, and we love it. If poetry is not your "thing", I would suggest looking at poems that you find funny. Here's some that tickle our fancy: Wasps- Dorthy Aldis The Crocodile- Lewis Carroll The People Upstairs- Ogden Nash (we enjoy almost anything by him!) A Fly and a Flea in a Flue- anon. The Tutor- Carolyn Wells ***a BIG hit here*** say it as fast as possible! Moses-anon The Duel- Field Algy Met a Bear-anon. The Owl & the Pussycat-Lear Daddy Fell into the Pond- Noyes Jabberwocky- Carroll There Was an Old Man with a Beard- Lear These are the ones I saw as I glanced through our book. But really, the key is finding ones YOU like. Once I got that part down, I found that it wasn't a chore to read them aloud. My seven year old son is just not going to sit quietly and let me read Dickinson. However, as he has become more accustomed to listening to poetry by reading "fun" ones, he has no fear or aversion to the more quiet or gentle poems. I do not consider myself very poetry literate. But one of the joys of homeschooling is rediscovering the things I missed in my own education. It has surprised me how much our family enjoys poetry. I love the play of words, the inventiveness of the poet in using words, the rhythm of the language. I hope you find some that you and your kids enjoy!:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kay in Cal Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 Some thoughts: The distinction between historian and poet is not in the one writing prose and the other verse... the one describes the thing that has been, and the other a kind of thing that might be. Hence poetry is something more philosophic and of graver import than history, since its statements are of the nature rather of universals, whereas those of history are singulars. ~Aristotle, On Poetics (italics are mine) Poetry is what gets lost in translation. -- Robert Frost Poems are feelings wrapped in words. We love to read poetry here. We'll sit and read and re-read a single poem, talking about how it makes us feel, why, does it tell a story, what it means, etc. I think I enjoy poetry so much because it is about Truth rather than fact. Kind of like faith, ya know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 How about fun poetry? Shel Silverstein will tickle your fancy, perhaps. And Edward Lear has written whole books full of limericks. My son particularly likes the ones that are also tongue twisters and plays on words! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysterious_jedi Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I like some poetry. I don't usually like long stuff. Sometimes I enjoy a poem more after I've read it a couple of times. Some that I like are: "O Captain, my Captain" by Walt Whitman (I hate his other works) various poems by Robert Frost "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe Dr. Seuss rhymes (!) Sonnet 73 by Shakespeare (that's one of the ones I had to read a couple times...read it for a lit. class this semester), etc. Most of these are pretty short and easy :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peek a Boo Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 i love reading, reciting, and memorizing poetry. Detest writing it. I like Trivium's response about 'why poetry' --I recognize the challenge of creating such a rhythmical piece of wording --it's like watching a well-choreographed dance of several different dancers instead of a nice free for all ;-) the symphony analogy was good too: listening to someone improv or even perform a well-rehearsed solo is nice, but the stuff that has to fall into place to achieve the rhyme, meter, and flow of a good poem w/ a myriad of devices [and still make sense!!!] really grabs my attention. You might want to consider getting some audio versions: listening to poetry can help a lot. My 2d ds is a very auditory learner: he gets more out of listening than reading ;) good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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