VERSES FOR

CHILDREN
LESSON 3:
 WHAT IS VERSES?

writing arranged with a metrical rhythm,

typically having a rhyme.
 A Verse is a collection of metrical lines of
poetry. It is used to define the difference of poetry and prose.
It contains rhythm and pattern and more often than not,
rhyme.
 There are certain values of
nonsense verses for children:
1. They provide humor for
children, Children laugh
heartily at the words even
though the words may be
meaningless to them.
5. They are excellent
for ear training.
2. They introduce the children to
rhyme and various pattern verse.

6. They serve as
3. They serve as a release from
introduction to better
tension and anxieties.
poetry.

4. They provide children a means of

escape from reality.
POETS OF NONSENSE VERSE
EDWARD LEAR
(1812-1888)
Was the greatest poet of
nonsense. Although he was
sick of epilepsy, Lear did
not stop from writing
limericks, funny poems of
five lines. In 1846, he
published the book of
Nonsense and in 1871,
Nonsense Songs and Stories
The qualities of
Lear’s Verse for
children:
1. His made-up words. An example is his
five different sets of alphabet rhymes
which are the alliterative and tongue-
twister variety.
Example:

A, was once an apple pie

Pedy.
Widy
Tidy
Pidy
Nice insidy
Apple-pie!
B, was once a little bear,
Beary
Wary
Hairy
Beary
Taky cary,
Little bear!
C, was once a little cake
Caky
Baky
Maky
Caky
Taky caky,
Little cake!
D, was once a little doll,
Dolly
Molly
Polly
Nolly
Nursy dolly
Little doll
NONSENSE ALPHABET
Edward Lear

C was a camel
A was an ant

Who seldom stood still, You rode on his hump,

And who made a nice house And if you fell off,
On the side of a hill, You came down such a bump!
Nice Little Ant! What a high camel!

B was a bat

Who slept all the day,

And glittered about
When the sun went away.
Brown little bat!
Lewis Carrol, 1882-1898,
writer of humorous verse
for children wrote Alice’s
Adventure in Wonderland.
Laura E. Richards, 1850-
1943, was known as the
children’s American Poet
Laureate Of Nonsense. Her
favorite verses were found
in Tirra Lirra; Rhymes old
and New published in 1932.
The Qualities of
Laura E. Richard’s
verses are:
● 3. She deals with
● 1. She uses funny
funny characters
words. and funny
● 2. She uses
situations.
humorous tales. ● 4. her verses have
lyrical quality.
THE MONKEYS AND THE CROCODILES
Laura E. 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 for the near;
“Poor Uncle Crocodile
Aren’t you hungry dear?”
Four little monkeys
Sitting in the trees;
Heads down, tails down,
Dreary as can be.

Weeping loud, weeping low,

Crying to each other,
“Wicked uncle Crocodile,
To gobble up our brother”
Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards was an American writer of the
late 19th century who published more than 90 books. Born on
February 27, 1850, she is best known for the nonsense poems
she created for children to enjoy, such as “Eletelephony.”

Laura Richards’ parents were famous before she was born. Her
father was Samuel Gridley Howe, who ran the Perkins Institute
for the Blind where Helen Keller and Laura Bridgman were
educated. (In fact, he named his own daughter after Laura
Bridgman.) Her mother, Julia Ward Howe, wrote the words to a
famous song called “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” When
Laura Richards grew up, she and her sister wrote a biography
of their mother that won a Pulitzer Prize.
In addition to writing many poems and works of fiction,
Richards was a philanthropist. She was very concerned
about finding ways to help the people in the town where
she lived with her husband. For example, Richards
helped to change the practice of making children work at
difficult jobs as if they were adults, which was common at
the time.

One of Richards’s best books of nonsense poetry is

called Tirra Lirra. The poems in this book use techniques
like rhythm, alliteration, and startling imagery to tell an
imaginative story.
ELETELEPHONY
Laura E. Richards

Once there was an elephant,

Who tried to use the telephant—
No! No! I mean an elephone
Who tried to use the telephone—
(Dear me! I am not certain quite
That even now I've got it right.)
Howe'er it was, he got his trunk
Entangled in the telephunk;
The more he tried to get it free,
The louder buzzed the telephee—
(I fear I'd better drop the song
Of elephop and telephong!)
 A. A Milne, (1882)
Milne’s charm is his ability to present small children as they
are. He portrays children in their private inner world of
make-believe, their gay self-centeredness, their liking for
small animals like mice, rabbits, puppies, snails and goats
whose antics enliven the verses. The verses are full of the
small child's activities too. Milne makes use of words,
rhymes and rhythm to convey character, mood, and action .
 THE THREE FOXES
A.A MILNE
Once upon a time there were three little foxes
Who didn’t wear stockings, and they didn’t wear sockses,
But they all had handkerchiefs to blow their noses,
And they kept their handkerchiefs in cardboard boxes.

And they lived in forest in three little houses,

And they didn’t wear coats, and they didn’t wear trousies.
They ran through the woods on their little bare tootsies,
And they played “Touch Last” with a family of mouses.

They didn’t go shopping in the High Street shopses,

But caught what they wanted in the woods and copses.
They all went fishing, and they caught three wormses,
They went out hunting, and they caught three wopses .
 They went to a Fair, and they all won prizes —
Tree plum-puddingses and three mince-pieses.
They rode on elephants and swang on swingses,
And hit three coco-nuts at coco-nut shieses.
That’s all I know of three little foxes
Who kept their handkerchiefs in three little boxes.
They lived in the forest in three little houses,
But they didn’t wear coats and they didn’t wear trousies,
And they didn’t wear stockings and they didn’t wear sockses.
THE SINGING FAIRY
Rose Fyleman
There was a fairy once
Who lives alone
In a mossy hole
Under a stone,
Never abroad she went;
Only at night .
When the moon was clear
And the stars were bright
High on the stone she stood,
Lifted her head
And stayed dark fled.
All the woods listen then .
 Nor left stirred;
Sweeter for the song
Than the song of bird.
Whence and how it came
None ever knew
None but the fairy
And me and you.