UNIT II

Lesson 1

Development of Poetry for Children and their Poem-Makers

A study of the development of poetry for children shows that with each
successive period in its history, gifted makers of verse show in their work more of the
veritable substance and essence of true poetry. The development has been irregular
but in the order of appearance most of the writers of the present inherited from the
past and each in his own way tried to sing the songs of childhood in the key with the
spirit of the child and the spirit of the times.

Poetry for the children has paralleled closely the development of prose
literature addressed to them.
At first, they had only folk rhymes, singing games, ballads, and other
traditional verse originally intended for adults but which were later gradually
relegated to children.
Just as children appropriated in part or in whole some of the prose classics such
as Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver’s Travels, and the Pilgrim’s Progress, so they
extracted what they could assimilate from the poetry of their elders.
Poetry in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries contained a good deal
which appealed only to the older children, but except for the anonymous verses,
there was very little which the younger children could fully enjoy.
As far back as human documents go, there was very little genuine poetry written
specifically for children before Dr. Isaac Watts published his Divine and Moral Songs
for Children in 1715. These songs, while of a religious nature, nevertheless, had a
very real appeal to children. A few of the poems are still included in juvenile books of
today, the best of which is ‘‘A Cradle Hymn’’.
Much of the early poetry for children consisted of hymned verses written for the
purpose of making children behave according to severe adult codes of conduct,
verses lamented the death of pets or young friends, and the reader was constantly
reminded that death was just around the corner and it was well to be prepared.
 In spite to the somber and often terrifying aspects of the religious
teaching which Dr. Watts wished to impart, many of his poems displayed
a real tenderness for children.
 He believed that morals and religion could be directly taught through
hymns and songs and many of his title like ‘’Against Lying’’, “Against Evil
Company”, ‘‘Examples of Early Piety’’, served their purpose. Creatures of
the imagination had no places in this serious world in which children’s
thoughts were directed toward life’s duties and uncertainties
 A great many of the subject of Divine and Moral Songs for children were copied
by imitators.
 Charles and Mary Lamb’s poems for children show unmistakable traces of
Watts.
 Ann and Jane Taylor and even William Blake were accomplished followers of
Dr. Watts.

William Blake (1957-1827)

 was the first of the important English poets to write poetry for children.
 To Blake, children were not little sinners to be warned and frightened, but were
the unspoiled handiwork of Divine love.
 They were the happy possessors of a joyous inner wisdom which was clearly
embodied in his Songs of Innocence first printed in 1789.
 His Songs of Experience came out in 1794.
 Blake is noted for his originality or rhythm and stanza pattern and the fitness of
his rhythms to the spirit of his songs.
 His themes were about nature, the lives of simple people, gay and laughing
children and he turned his back on everything artificial and purely formal.
 The first poem in his Songs of Innocence entitled,” Introduction” shows a gay
and a laughing child in lively abandon.
 In Songs of Experience, there is a sharp portrayal of pain and sadness and hints
on the insoluble question of faith and philosophy, as in his poem, “Tiger, tiger,
burning bright”.
 He had a feeling of sympathy for the oppressed and disinherited as expressed
in “The Chimney Sweep”, “ The Little Back Boy’’, “Holy Thursday’’.
 Some other notable poems of Blake are: ‘’Cradle Song’’, ‘’The Lamb’’,
‘’Laughing Song’’, ‘’Spring’’.

Ann And Jane Taylor (1782-1866) (1783-1824)

 began to write for little children when they were scarcely more than children
themselves.
 They wrote in such close collaboration throughout their lives until Jane’s death.
 Both had a warm affection for children and many intimate contacts with them,
but their concept of poetry was identical with that of contemporary writers of
didactic stories their chief of purpose being to develop the morals, refine the
manners and impart information to young children.
 While their poems involved matters of morals and conduct a great deal, they
had a wide range of subjects which were drawn from nature experiences and
some from play.
  They wrote about flowers, birds, sun, moon, star, the season, the field and
garden.
 The Taylors were the first poets to write exclusively for children.
 Their first collection of verse was published in 1804 with the title Original
Poems for Infants Minds: By Several Young Persons, which was in
collaboration with a friend, Miss Adelaide O’Keefe.
 However, Miss O’Keefe had no and at all in ‘’Rhymes for the Nursery’’
published in 1806 and in ‘’Hymns for the Infant Minds’’ published in 1808.
 Some of their well-known poems are ‘’Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,’’ ‘’I
Like Little Pussy,’’ and ‘’Pretty Cow’’.

Edward Lear (1812-1888)

had no literary forerunner, he was simply himself.
He was the gifted young English artist who at the age of nineteen years made
colored drawings of birds for the London Zoological Society and later he was
employed by the Earl of Darby to draw pictures if his family.
He started his early caricatures with limericks which were pure unadulterated
nonsense in his Book of Nonsense published in 1846.
His second book Nonsense Songs Published in 1871 contained some of the
most delightful of his poems.
They were just as nonsensical as the limericks but they showed coherence and
evidence of plot.
Among of the most popular of these were ‘’ The Owl and the Pussy Cat,’’ ‘’ Mr.
and Mrs. Spikly Sparrow,’’ ‘’ The Table and the Chair,’’ ‘’ Nonsense Alphabet.’’
‘’ The Jumblies,’’ ‘’The Duck and the Kangaroo.’’ ‘’The Broom, the shovel, the
Poker and the Tongs,’’ and ‘’Limericks.’’
Lear had the ability to entertain all ages at once at the same time for his verse
although fantastic were delightfully entertaining for both young and adults.

Chritina Rosette (1830-1894)

wrote very simple little poems for children.
She possessed much of the spiritual quality found in William Blake.
She began to write verse when still a child.
She was one of four talented and artistic children of the Rossetti family.
She was not physically strong as a child and her pale and delicate face appeared
in many of the paintings of her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti for whom she
often served as a model.
Her life had been one of almost nun-like seclusion and her warm introspective
nature found outlet in poetry, in service to others, and in religious devotion.
 Miss Rossetti was a great master of musical language and metrical arts.
Her first and most inspired work ‘’Goblin Market and Other Poems’’ appeared in
1962 and ten years later when she became more of an invalid until her
untimely death- she wrote Singsong, a collection of little nursery poems which
were she pure lyrics and which she dedicated to the infant son of a very close
friend, Professor Arthur Cayley of Cambridge.
Like Blake, Miss Rossetti used very few figures of speech in her poems for
children. She presented children’s experiences with the utmost simplicity of
style. She used simple, direct and child-like sensory images.

Celia Laighton Thaxter (1835-1894)

 was one of the earliest American writers of verse for for children.
 Mrs. Thaxter is especially noted for her many beautiful and truthful pictures of
birds and their ways in Stories and Poems, first published in 1883 which
includes such poems as ‘’The Sandpiper’’, ‘’ Wild Geese’’, and ‘’The
Sparrows’’, Children are also Mrs. Thaxter’s other great love and she was a
close and understanding observer of them.
 She was decidedly a nature-poet.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

 occupied a unique place as a writer for children.
 He was considered as the first true ‘’poet-laureate’’ for children.
 His book, A Child’s Garden of Verse, was not only regarded as a classic but it
represented a standard of style and quality for all other writers of children’s
poetry.
 Stevenson was an only child, a very delicate and frail child who spent most of
his life in the coziness of his comfortable home, the tender care of his equally
frail mother in the devotion of his beloved nurse.
o His quiet pleasures were all woven into his verses. His poems had a
true lyrical quality and had been set to music.
o He had the ability to express what the young child feels and thinks.
o A Child’s Garden of Verses continues to be the one favorite books

Laura Elizabeth Richards (1850-1943)

 who was the daughter of Julia Ward Howe, author of The Battle Hymn of the
Republic, was not only a poet but also a musician.
 She enjoyed all the benefits of a home of broad culture with fine family social
relations.
  She published several collections of songs and rhymes as well as stories
which she contributed exclusively to the St. Nicholas, the leading magazine for
children.
 She called his first book of verse published in 1890, In My Nursery: A Book of
Verse.
 Her second collection- The Hurdy-Gurdy was published in 1902.
 Tirra-Lirra: Rhymes Old and New published in 1932.
 The title of his collections of verses has been well chosen and is very
suggestive of the homely flavor of the verses and the inevitable beat of their
rhythm.
 The title sets the key for the tripping songs of laughter, many of which give
delight to most children.
 A considerable number of poems in Tirra-Lirra are adopted to the upper
grades than to the lower elementary grades.
 Good nonsense verses are enjoyed by children who have not developed a
taste for the higher ranges of poetry.
 However, Mrs. Richard’s verse is appealing to both young and adults.

Walter de la Mare
 With the turn of century, the most important figure among writers of poetry for
children was Walter de la Mare published Songs of Childhood, his first
collection of poems.
 This was followed by a Child’s Day in 1912, Peacock Pie, his best known
collection in 1913, and the Down-a-Down Derry; A Book of Fairy Poems
published in 1922.
 Mr. de la Mare started the stream of lovely verse followed by other writers of
imagination.
 No other poet has shown such great insight into the fleeting moods and deep-
lying roots of child’s nature.
 Mr. de la Mare displays his greatest gift in writing about fairies, woodland
spirits and other blithe spirits in the realm of fairyland.

Rose Fyleman (1877)

 has been affectionately called ‘’ Poet of the Fairies.’’
 Her first book of poems for the children Fairies and Chimneys was published in
1918.
 The three other volumes of verses followed: The Fairy Green, The Fairy Flute,
Fairies and Friends.
 Unlike Walter de la Mare’s friends, Miss Fyleman’s fairies were believable
because they mixed openly in the affairs of modern life, urban as well as country
life.
 They performed activities of real people such as going marketing, riding on a bus
or singing.
 Her poems had the sense of mystery and enchantment in them which are
enjoyed by children.
 Miss Fyleman has also written some amusing light verse about the modern
children and the things he is interested in.

Allan Alexander Milne (1882-1956)

is known more familiarly as A.A Milne.
He started his literary work by giving his full attention to the writing of plays.
He started writing his first book of verse when he got married and had his first
son.
He published his first book of poems in 1924 under the title When We Were Very
Young.
His second collection Now We Are Six came out in Even grown-ups found his
poems charming.
a very competent writer of light verse manufactured many “funny” words to
increase rhythmic effects as in his “The Three Foxes”.
Most of the contemporary writer have drawn most of their subject from everyday
life and have made their greatest contribution in the literary field in idealized
portrayal of everyday life and commonplace things.

Rachel Field (1884-1942)

has been most successful in this genre and her collections contained numerous
poems about people and objects belonging to their immediate environment
such as “The Flower-Cart Man”, “ Taxis”, “Skyscrapers”, “The Cuckoo Shop”,
and many others.
Rachel Field had three books of poems for children – The Pointed People, A
Little Book of Days, Taxis and Toadstools.

Dorothy Aldis (1897)

has written many short poems for young people choosing the simple and
common domestic scenes and events which she portrays with humor and
charm. Her verses are popular with the younger children because they appeal
to their interest, their activities and observation.
 Her four books of verse- Everything and Anything , Here, There, and
Everywhere, Hop, Skip and Jump and Before thing s Happen – have been
published in 0ne volume All together.

Elizabeth Madox Roberts (1886-1941)

published Under the Three which attracted attention as the work of an eminent
novelist because of the unique quality of the poems.
Her subjects were drawn from very simple country life.
Her poems revealed the keen sensitivity to the sights, sounds, odors, and tactile
sensations associated with rural experiences which she displayed in simple
narrative form.
Among her poems were “The Rabbit”. “The Hens”. “The Woodpecker,” and
“Milking Time”.

Dorothy Walter Baruch (1899)

is one of the modern poets for the children who has made use of her knowledge
of child psychology in her books like Parents and Children go to school.
In her verse for children, she uses free verse in the child’s own manner of
speaking. Some favorites are “The Marry-Go-round” and “I Like Automobiles”.
Many noted poets who have written primarily for adults have written some fine
poetry for chiden- Robert Browning’s ‘’Pied Piper of Hamelin,’’ Sara Teasdale’s
Star’s’’ Tonight and Rivers to the Sea’’, Alfred Noyes’ ‘’Forty Singing Seamen
and other Poems,’’ John Masefield’s ‘’Salts Water Poems and Ballads,’’Vachel
Lindsay’s ‘’Johnny Apppleseed and other Poems,’’ Walt Whitman’s ‘’ I Hear
Singing and other Poems,’’ Carl Sandburg’s ‘’Lost, Fog and other Poems,’’ and
Robert Frost’s ‘’The Pasture.’’

Some Modern Poets for Children:

Myra Cohn Livingston, a newcomer to the scene of children’s poetry, has freshness
and charm in her poems. Her book, whispers and other Poems is filled with laughter,
curiosity, gaiety, and tenderness. Her second book, Wide Awake, has many
imaginative and gay poems
One of M.C. Livingston’s poems

Whispers

Whispers
tickle through your ear
telling things you like to
 hear.
Whispers
are as soft as skin
telling little words curl in.
Whispers