Childrens Literature

Poetry Anthology

Miranda Mitchell
Dr. Burke
October 7, 2014

Table of Contents
Introductory Note

pages 2-3

Poems
1. Caterpillar ..
2. The Butterflys Ball ...
3. Ladybug
4. A Swarm of Bees .
5. A Wee Little Worm .
6. The Snail .
7. The Mock Turtles Song ..
8. The Eagle .
9. Peacockfeather ....
10. The Duck.
11. Sea Joy .
12. Seal .
13. Sea-Fever
14. The Shark
15. The Flattered Flying Fish .
16. Pete at the Zoo..
17. Unicorn .
18. Two Little Dogs .
19. Bibliography ..

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Introductory Note
Poetry is a form of literature that uses rhythmic language and other techniques to express
emotions and ideas in ways that produce various types of aesthetic satisfaction. Poetry is neither
a lesson nor does it hold a secret message but yet it is an experience for the reader; it has no rules
for interpretation. For my anthology, I chose these eighteen poems because I love nature and
animals. I enjoying appreciate the creations of the world around us. When an individual is
interest for a certain topic they have a passion for learning more or exploring. I took my passion
of animal and nature and embodied it into my poetry anthology.
I think the six essential qualities of good poems for children include rhyme and rhythm,
form, give an experience, share an experience, being introduced in a fun way, and appropriate. I
think that childrens poetry should rhyme and rhythm because when read a lot, they add to the
readers experience. Poetry is rhythm and music and sounds and beats put into words for
children. They may not understand all the words or meaning, but they'll feel the rhythms, get
curious about what the sounds mean and perhaps want to create their own. Form is essential for
childrens poetry because it is what captures the reader at first glance. It gives the reader
something to pay attention to while experiencing the words on the page. Form gives words and
context meaning and helps make themes come to life. Childrens poetry must give the reader an
experience. The poem needs to be something that is going grab the readers attention and keep it
the whole way through. The poem should also have a voice and give the reader an experience to
think about. It is important that childrens poems are introduced in an enjoyable way. Giving
children something fun to look forward to and at the same time developing understanding of the
ways poems work is a great teaching tool. The poems also need to be at an appropriate level for

the reader. Childrens poems are meant for an audience that deserves that attention to have
appropriate material.

I really enjoyed the poem Sea Joy by Jacqueline Bouvier:

When I go down by the sandy shore
I can think of nothing I want more
Than to live by the booming blue sea
As the seagulls flutter round me

I can run aboutwhen the tide is out

With the wind and the sand and the sea all about
And the seagulls are swirling and dicing for fish
Ohto live by the sea is my only wish.

This poem embodies all essential I listed above. It includes a rhyme of A,A,B,B,C,C,D,D and
when read a lot there is a certain rhythm to take into consideration. The form of the essay is
broken down into two stanzas which I think does a great job of presenting the poem is a clear
and clean way. The poem allows the reader to have their own experience on a shore and it
includes sense words that help give life to the poem for a more serial experience. This poem also
shares an experience of the narrator of their day at a sandy shore and what they experience. This
poem is also appropriate and easy to follow for one reading or listening.

Caterpillar
By Christina Rossetti
Brown and furry
Caterpillar in a hurry,
Take your walk
To the shady leaf, or stalk,
Or what not,
Which may be the chosen spot.
No toad spy you,
Hovering bird of prey pass by you;
Spin and die,
To live again a butterfly.

The Butterflys Ball

By William Roscoe
Come take up your hats, and away let us haste
To the Butterfly's Ball, and the Grasshopper's Feast:
The trumpeter Gad-fly has summon'd the crew,
And the revels are now only waiting for you.
On the smooth-shaven grass by the side of a wood,
Beneath a broad oak which for ages had stood,
See the children of earth, and the tenants of air,
To an evening's amusement together repair.
And there came the Beetle, so blind and so black,
Who carried the Emmet, his friend, on his back;
And there came the Gnat, and the Dragon-fly too,
And all their relations green, orange, and blue.
And there came the Moth, with her plumage of down,
And the Hornet, with jacket of yellow and brown,
Who with him the Wasp, his companion, did bring,
But they promis'd, that ev'ning, to lay by their sting.
Then the sly little Dormouse peep'd out of his hole,
And led to the feast, his blind cousin, the Mole;
And the Snail, with her horns peeping out of her shell,
Came, fatigu'd with the distance, the length of an ell.
A mushroom the table, and on it was spread
A water-dock leaf, which their table-cloth made.
The viands were various, to each of their taste,
And the Bee brought the honey to sweeten the feast.
With steps most majestic the Snail did advance,
And he promis'd the gazers a minuet to dance;
But they all laugh'd so loud that he drew in his head,
And went in his own little chamber to bed.
Then, as ev'ning gave way to the shadows of night,
Their watchman, the Glow-worm, came out with his light:
So home let us hasten, while yet we can see;
For no watchman is waiting for you or for me.

Labybug
By Joan Walsh Anglund
A small speckled visitor
wearing crimson cape,
brighter than a cherry,
smaller than a grape.
A polka-dotted someone
walking on my wall,
a black-hooded lady
in a scarlet shawl.

A Swarm of Bees
Mother Goose Melodies

A Swarm of bees in May,

Is worth a load of hay;
A swarm of bees in June,
Is worth a silver spoon,
A swarm of bees in July,
Is not worth a fly.

A Wee Little Worm

By James Whitcomb Riley
A wee little worm in a hickory-nut
Sang, happy as he could be,
O I live in the heart of the whole round world,
And it all belongs to me!

The Snail
By James Reeves

At sunset, when the night-dews fall,

Out of the ivy on the wall
With horns outstretched and pointed tail
Comes the grey and noiseless snail.
On ivy stems she clambers down,
Carrying her house of brown.
Safe in the dark, no greedy eye
Can her tender body spy,
While she herself, a hungry thief,
Searches out the freshest leaf.
She travels on as best she can
Like a toppling caravan.

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The Mock Turtle's Song

By Lewis Carroll
"Will you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail.
"There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail.
See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!
They are waiting on the shinglewill you come and join the dance?
Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?
Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?
"You can really have no notion how delightful it will be,
When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters, out to sea!"
But the snail replied "Too far, too far!" and gave a look askance
Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would not join the dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, could not join the dance.
"What matters it how far we go?" his scaly friend replied.
"There is another shore, you know, upon the other side.
The further off from England the nearer is to France
Then turn not pale, beloved snail but come and join the dance?
Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?
Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?"

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Peacockfeather
By Rainer Maria Rilke
Peacockfeather:
peerless in your elegance,
how I loved you even as a child.
I took you for a love-token
which by silersilent ponds
elves in cool night hand each other,
when children all are gone to sleep.
And since good little Grandmama
often read me of wishing-wands,
I dreamed, you delicate of air,
where flowed in you fine filaments
the crafty force of diving-rod
and sought you in the summer grass.

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The Duck
By Richard Digance
When youre a Duck like me its impossible
to make friends with humans like you.
Were friendly and dont cause any trouble,
but youre not and you certainly do.
We swim round, me and the family,
while you throw us old lumps of bread.
Your dog starts to run with the crack of your gun
and one of us loses his head.
And if thats not enough, then you cook us
with our legs sticking up in the air.
Try putting yourself into our place.
I tell you, it just isnt fair.

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Sea Joy
Jacqueline Bouvier
When I go down by the sandy shore
I can think of nothing I want more
Than to live by the booming blue sea
As the seagulls flutter round me
I can run aboutwhen the tide is out
With the wind and the sand and the sea all about
And the seagulls are swirling and dicing for fish
Ohto live by the sea is my only wish.

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Sea-Fever
By John Masefield

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheels kick and the winds song and the white sails shaking
And a grey mist on the seas face and a grey dawn breaking.
I must down to the seas again I must go down to the seas again, for the
call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gulls way and the whales way where the winds like a whetted
knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long tricks over.

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The Shark
By Lord Alfred Douglas
A treacherous monster is the Shark,
He never makes the least remark.
And when he sees you on the sand,
He doesnt seem to want to land.
He watches you take off your clothes,
And not the least excitement shows.
His eyes do not grow bright or roll,
He has astounding self-control.
He waits till you are quite undressed,
And seems to take no interest.
And when towards the sea you leap,
He looks as if he were asleep.
But when you once get in his range,
His whole demeanor seems to change.
He throws his body right about,
And his true character comes out.
Its no use crying or appealing,
He sees to lose all decent feeling.
After this warning you will wish
To keep clear of this treacherous fish.
His back is black, his stomach white,
He has a very dangerous bite.

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The Flattered Flying Fish

By E.V. Rieu
Sad the Shark to the Flying Fish over the phone:
Will you join me tonight? I am dining alone.
Let me order a nice little dinner for two!
And come as you are, in your shimmering blue.
Said the Flying Fish: Fancy remembering me,
And the dress that I wore at the Porpoises tea!
How could I forget? said the Shark in his guile:
I expect you at eight! and rang off with a smile.
She has powered her nose; she has put on her things;
She is off with one flap of her luminous wings.
O little one, lovely, light-hearted and vain,
The Moon will not shine on your beauty again!

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Pete at the Zoo

By Gwendolyn Brooks
I wonder if the elephant
Is lonely in his stall
When all the boys and girls ar gone
And theres no shout at all,
And theres no one to stamp before
No one to note his might,
Does he hunch up, as I do,
Against the dark of night?

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Unicorn
By Nicholas Stuart Gray
All that lives of legendry,
Beauty, magic, mystery,
Gentleness and purity,
Dwells in me.
I no mate, no kin, have known,
None may claim me as his own;
One is one, and all alone,
It must be.
Through their weariness and woe
Men have sometimes seen me go,
Felt a wind from Eden blow
Suddenly.
Though they hunt with spear and horn,
Knowing life cannot be borne
If they have no unicorn
I am free.
Though they kill, and weep to see
Beauty's symbol ended be
One is one and lives in me
To eternity.

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Two Little Dogs

Mother Goose Melodies

Two little dogs were basking in the cinders;

Two cats were playing in the windows;
When two little mice popped out of a hole,
And up to a fine piece of cheese they stole.
The two little dogs cried, Cheese is nice!
But the two little cats jumped down in a trice,
And cracked the bones of the two little mice.

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Bibliography
Gross, S., & Cone, M. (1968). Every Child's Book of Verse. New York: F. Watts.
Kennedy, C. (2005). A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children. New York:
Hyperion/Hyperion Books for Children.
Prelutsky, J. (1983). The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. New York, NY: Random
House.
Wright, B. (1916). The Real Mother Goose. Chicago: Rand, McNally &.

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