Poetry on Friday

This is my second year in the blogging world yet I just discovered  Poetry Friday today.   I'm kind of slow with these things so I console myself often with the saying, "Better late than never."

It was Lissa's poem on Poetry Friday that had me dusting off our copy of The Harp and Laurel Wreath this morning.  For some reason, we have neglected our poetry reads for too long. We promptly went on a poetry reading binge.

We began with The Arrow and the Song by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, followed by his poem The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls.  I turned to two of my childhood favorites:  The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt and Little Boy Blue by Eugene Field then continued on with Longfellow's The Children's Hour.  We paused for a moment with Robert Frost at Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.

Feeling the need to leave these somber classics and move on to cheerier recitations, I found some funnier selections: The Duel by Eugene Field, Furry Bear by A.A. Milne, and The Song of Mr. Toad by Kenneth Grahame

Then, strangely enough, DQ selected The Fool's Prayer by Edward Rowland Sill to be read.  Confusing it with Abou Ben Adhem by James Henry Leigh Hunt, I explained to DQ how she might not understand the poem fully but it was a very good poem and she would understand it as she grew older and if she read it each year.  The Fool's Prayer is a poem much like Abou Ben Adhem but I prefer Abou Ben Adhem out of the two.  They are easily understandable poems but both require a little explanation when read to a child.  So we read and discussed the poem.

We read Fog by Carl Sandburg and ended our poetic mania with At the Zoo by A.A. Milne.

I hadn't realized how much we were missing by skipping our poetry readings.  I'm looking forward to next Friday's Poetry Blitz.

Comments

[Karen]

hmmmm, I've never heard of Poetry Friday either! We may need to start a new Friday activity around here. I'm thinking Poetry and Waffles for breakfast!

[Oma]

Found a cute poetry website for children...
www.gigglepoetry.com
DQ & Starr's ages (and even the others in the family may enjoy it...I did and I'm in my 60's):)