There is observable order or design in the world that cannot be attributed to the object itself; this observable order argues for an intelligent being who established this order; this being is God (The Teleological Argument, proponents- Aquinas).
H. Wayne House

Forums

Forum Navigation
You need to log in to create posts and topics.

Tidbit #13 Addendum: Poetry Comments, Book Excerpt, and Selected Poems

Forum Archives
738 Posts
#1 · October 19, 2003, 12:05 pm

Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE HOPE CHEST

with Virginia Knowles

Tidbit #13 Addendum on October 19, 2003

Poetry Comments, Book Excerpt, and Selected Poems

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Hope Chest is a free e-mail newsletter with encouragement and practical teaching tips. The writer is Virginia Knowles, wife of Thad, mother of nine children, and author of Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5th Grade, and The Real Life Home School Mom.   Feel free to forward this to your friends!

Contact information:

~*~*~
 
A little "Prayer and Care" note before we start:
 
Susan Friesen, a Hope Chest reader in Santa Maria, California, has a daughter waiting for a heart transplant in pediatric intensive care at UCLA.  Please pray that six year old Lindsea stays strong enough for the surgery.  Her nine year old sister, Shivan, went through the exact same ordeal three years ago, so this is a double whammy on the family.  Susan and her husband Ken have to take turns caring for the four siblings at home while the other is at the hospital with Lindsea.  Read a newspaper article about the family at:  http://www.onewhiterose.org/fs/lif/smt1011.htm. You can sign Lindsea's guest book at http://www.onewhiterose.org or send her some cheer mail or Beanie Babies to:
   Lindsea Friesen / PICU 3W, Mattel Children's Hospital / 10833 LeConte Ave. / Los Angeles, CA  90095
 
~*~*~
 
Dear Hope Chest friends,
 
Last night, I sent out Tidbit #13 with a poem by Edgar Guest, but a few more thoughts came to me early this morning while I rocked fussy baby Ben.  So, I am including "Poetry in Life and Education" which is an excerpt from my book Common Sense Excellence, several poetry selections, and even two web links about Edgar Guest. 
 
I must first say that I am picky about poetry, and I am not alone.  Shortly before she died, my mother-in-law and I agreed that can't get into much "academic" verse.  We'll leave the long literatury genius odes to the English majors who have to write term papers about it.  What we like are poems that speak to the heart, with memorable lines and uplifting messages for every day folks like us.  These are the kinds of poems you might copy to tack up over the kitchen sink or send to someone you love. (Just after I wrote this last sentence, I got an e-mail from Leisa Lee about last night's poem saying, "Oh Virginia..THANKS so much for sharing that.  I love this and think I will print and frame this to be hung in my kitchen as a daily reminder for me."  See what I mean?   When I compiled a Book of Sunshine to cheer Ann in her sick bed, I put many of these kinds of verses and hymns alongside relevant Scripture passages.   That's why, a week before she died, she hand copied a poem she liked from the newspaper for my daughter Mary.   
 
This may be academic heresy to say, but when you are trying to "teach poetry" to your children, unless there is a compelling reason for them to dissect an abstract intellectual poem that makes no common sense to ordinary people -- don't bother!  If they really need that in college, well, they won't be too far behind those who loathed doing it in high school and have since forgotten it.  Instead, if you want to cultivate a LOVE for poetry that will last a lifetime, find something simple (but not stupid) that appeals to them and to you!
 
And now, here is the excerpt from my book Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Education for Preschool to 5th Grade.  (For information on ordering this book, click here: http://www.thehopechest.net/cse.html.)  If I already included this excerpt recently, please forgive me, as my memory is not what it used to be!

POETRY IN LIFE AND EDUCATION

I personally think poetry is sadly neglected by many home schoolers. What a loss! Beyond the beautiful words, poetry can communicate important ideas to inspire and influence society. Since our culture values tolerance toward all forms of artistic expression, poetry can often reach hearts that prose cannot. I encourage you to incorporate poetry into your lives and home schools in many ways:

Find a poem that you would like to share with your children. Jot it down, memorize it, read it out loud, and post it on the wall!

Make a collection of good poetry available in your home. Many home school catalogs carry poetry anthologies, such as:

  • Favorite Poems Old and New edited by Helen Ferris
  • The Book of Virtues edit by Dr. William Bennett. (Edgar Guest is my favorite poet!)

Keep poetry sessions short, simple and fun. Beginning students have short attention spans and can’t always handle abstract ideas, so start with nursery rhymes and humorous verse. “Over in the Meadow”, a popular children’s rhyme often found in poetry anthologies or as a separate book, introduces numbers, animals and repetition. There are many charming Christian versions of Mother Goose.

Read a poem out loud with an expressive voice. Savor the sounds and cadences as they roll off your tongue. (I love alliteration: the busy bumble bee and the hive of honey.) Have your children each choose a poem to memorize and recite for a special family occasion or open house, just as students did in the one-room schools.

Notice the rhyming pattern of a poem. “One two, buckle my shoe. Three, four, shut the door” is an example of an AABB pattern. The first two lines rhyme, and then the last two rhyme. Or clap out a rhythm pattern: “Mary had a little lamb” is DUM de DUM de DUM de DUM, and is written in the “trochee feet” rhythm.

  • You Can Teach Your Child Successfully: Grades 4-8 by Dr. Ruth Beechick

Find poetry related to whatever theme you are studying.

  • Forest: “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost.
  • Seasons: “Bed in Summer” by Robert Louis Stevenson.
  • The American Revolution: “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
  • Japan: haiku

Copy and illustrate a poem. Use markers, colored pencils or your computer’s painting program. Add a decorative border. Hang it on the wall or give it to the grandparents.

Let each person try writing a poem to describe a familiar object or experience. What do you hear, see, feel, smell, and/or taste? Or, try to express your feelings and beliefs. Write a poem to commemorate a special person or occasion. It will be a cherished gift!

Have a poetry tea time. Kelly-Ann Gritner-Gibbons in Canada shares, “At our home we have tea-time with poetry reading. I make Cambric Tea using decaffeinated Orange Pekoe tea, sugar and milk - mostly milk! My daughter and I take turns choosing poetry to read. I read her selections for her right now. (We have been reading selections from The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker.) Or I choose one poetry book and we read aloud every poem we come across. (Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses is good; we have the one illustrated by Tasha Tudor.) After we have finished reading some poetry, we enjoy one or two snacks. Sometimes we do this in our kitchen, using real tea cups, while other times we do this outside, sitting on a blanket. We have poetry and tea time at least once a week - and sometimes seven times in a week - upon my daughter's request!”

 

~*~*~

SELECTED POETRY FOR READING ALOUD, COPYING, AND JUST ENJOYING!

~*~*~

 

Little Things

by Julia Fletcher

 

Little drops of water,

Little grains of sand,

Make the mighty ocean

And the pleasant land.

 

Thus the little minutes,

Humble though they be,

Make the mighty ages

Of eternity.

 

~*~*~

Good for Good

a Welsh folk saying from Prayers, Praises and Thanksgivings

compiled by Sandol Stoddard

 

Good for good is only fair;

Bad for bad soon brings despair;

Bad for good is vile and base;

Good for bad shows forth God’s grace.

 

~*~*~

The Monkeys and the Crocodile

by Laura Richards

 

Five little monkeys, swinging from a tree;

Teasing Uncle Crocodile, merry as can be.

Swinging high, swinging low, swinging left and right:

“Dear Uncle Crocodile, come and take a bite!”

 

Five little monkeys, swinging in the air;

Heads up, tails up, little do they care.

Swinging up, swinging down, swinging far and near:

“Poor Uncle Crocodile, aren’t you hungry, dear?”

 

Four little monkeys sitting in the tree;

Heads down, tails down, dreary as can be.

Weeping loud, weeping low, crying to each other:

“Wicked Uncle Crocodile, to gobble up our brother!”

 

~*~*~

When Mother Reads Aloud

from Favorite Poems Old and New

 

When Mother reads aloud, the past

Seems real as every day;

I hear the tramp of armies vast,

I see the spears and lances cast,

I join the trilling fray;

Brave knights and ladies fair and proud

I meet when Mother reads aloud.

 

When Mother reads aloud, far lands

Seem very near and true;

I cross the desert’s gleaming sands,

Or hunt the jungle’s prowling bands,

Or sail the ocean blue.

Far heights, whose peaks the cold mists shroud,

I scale, when Mother reads aloud.

 

When Mother reads aloud, I long

For noble deeds to do --

To help the right, redress the wrong;

It seems so easy to be strong,

So simple to be true.

Oh, thick and fast the visions crowd

My eyes, when Mother reads aloud.

 

~*~*~

The New Colussus

Emma Lazarus

(engraved on a plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty)

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities fame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

 

~*~*~

Results or Roses

by Edgar Guest

from The Book of Virtues

 

The man who wants a garden fair,

Or small or very big,

With flowers growing here and there,

Must bend his back and dig.

The things are mighty few on earth

That wishes can attain

Whate’er we want of any worth

We’ve got to work to gain.

It matters not what goal you seek

Its secret here reposes:

You’ve got to dig from week to week

To get Results or Roses.

 

~*~*~

The Things That Haven’t Been Done Before

by Edgar Guest

 

The things that haven’t been done before,

Those are the things to try;

Columbus dreamed of an unknown shore

At the rim of the far-flung sky,

And his heart was bold and his faith was strong

As he ventured in dangers new,

And he paid no heed to the jeering throng

Or the fears of the doubting crew.

The many will follow the beaten track

With guideposts on the way.

They live and have lived for ages back

With a chart for every day.

Someone has told them it’s safe to go

On the road he has traveled o’er,

And all that they ever strive to know

Are the things that were known before.

A few strike out, without map or chart,

Where never a man has been,

From the beaten paths they draw apart

To see what no man has seen.

There are deeds they hunger alone to do;

Though battered and bruised and sore,

They blaze the path for the many, who

Do nothing not done before.

The things that haven’t been done before

Are the tasks worthwhile today;

Are you one of the flock that follows, or

Are you one that shall lead the way?

Are you one of the timid souls that quail

At the jeers of a doubting crew,

Or dare you, whether you win or fail,

Strike out for a goal that’s new?

 

Two web links for the poet Edgar Guest:

(Please note that this last site has the texts of poems from scores of poets!  What a great resource for home schooling!)
 
 
~*~*~

That's all for now, folks!  Go enjoy a poem!

In His Sovereign Grace,

Virginia Knowles

http://www.thehopechest.net

 

 

Click for thumbs down.0Click for thumbs up.0