COMPOSITION ACTIVITY - NOVICE LEVEL

POETRY FOR GRADE 1 - 5

The following document contains the Poems to be used for Compositional

Activity for the Novice Level. These poems are meant for students from Grade 1 -
5.. Please note that if the student is as young as a 5 year old, ‘Who has seen the
wind’ and ‘The Swing’ are a good choice.

1
LIST OF POEMS

1. The Land of Nod……………………….Robert Louis Stevenson

2. My Shadow…………………………………Robert Louis Stevenson
3. The Moon…………………………………..Robert Louis Stevenson
4. The Road Not Taken………………...Robert Frost
5. The Rainbow……………………………...Christina Rossetti
6. Bed in Summer…………………………..Robert Louis Stevenson
7. The Swing…………………………………...Robert Louis Stevenson
8. What is Pink?...............................Christina Rossetti
9. Who Has Seen the Wind?...........Christina Rossetti

2
The Land Of Nod - Robert Louis Stevenson

Poetry Audio: The Land of Nod

From breakfast on through all the day

At home among my friends I stay,
But every night I go abroad
Afar into the land of Nod.

All by myself I have to go,

With none to tell me what to do–
All alone beside the streams
And up the mountain-sides of dreams.

The strangest things are these for me,

Both things to eat and things to see,
And many frightening sights abroad
Till morning in the land of Nod.

Try as I like to find the way,

I never can get back by day,
Nor can remember plain and clear
The curious music that I hear.

3
 My Shadow - Robert Louis Stevenson
Poetry Audio: My Shadow

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,

And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—

Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,

And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see;
I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,

I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

4
 The Moon - Robert Louis Stevenson

Poetry Audio: The Moon

The moon has a face like the clock in the hall;

She shines on thieves on the garden wall,

On streets and fields and harbour quays,

And birdies asleep in the forks of the trees.

The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse,

The howling dog by the door of the house,

The bat that lies in bed at noon,

All love to be out by the light of the moon.

But all of the things that belong to the day

Cuddle to sleep to be out of her way;

And flowers and children close their eyes

Till up in the morning the sun shall arise.

5
The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost

Poetry Audio: The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

6
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

7
 The Rainbow - Christina Rossetti

Poetry Audio: The Rainbow

Boats sail on the rivers,

And ships sail on the seas;

But clouds that sail across the sky

Are prettier far than these.

There are bridges on the rivers,

As pretty as you please;

But the bow that bridges heaven,

And overtops the trees,

And builds a road from earth to sky,

Is prettier far than these.

8
Bed in Summer - Robert Louis Stevenson

Poetry Audio: Bed in Summer

In Winter I get up at night

And dress by yellow candle light.

In Summer, quite the other way,

I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see

The birds still hopping on the tree,

Or hear the grown-up people's feet

Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,

When all the sky is clear and blue,

And I should like so much to play,

To have to go to bed by day?

9
The Swing - Robert Louis Stevenson

Poetry Audio: The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing,

Up in the air so blue?

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing

Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,

Till I can see so wide,

River and trees and cattle and all

Over the countryside--

Till I look down on the garden green,

Down on the roof so brown--

Up in the air I go flying again,

Up in the air and down!

10
What Is Pink? - Christina Rossetti

Poetry Audio: What is Pink?

What is pink? A rose is pink

By the fountain's brink.
What is red? A poppy's red
In its barley bed.

What is blue? The sky is blue

Where the clouds float through.
What is white? A swan is white
Sailing in the light.

What is yellow? Pears are yellow,

Rich and ripe and mellow.
What is green? The grass is green,
With small flowers between.

What is violet? Clouds are violet

In the summer twilight.
What is orange? Why, an orange,
Just an orange!

11
Who has seen the Wind? - Christina Rossetti
Poetry Audio: Who Has seen the Wind

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.

12