Chapter II

Development of Poetry for Children

(Mother Goose Rhymes/Nursery Rhymes, Verses,

Poetry and Choral Speaking and Reading)
 Chapter II

Development of Poetry for Children

Introduction

This chapter is intended to help you know and learn the features of nursery
rhymes and the values found in these rhymes. Here, you will understand why there
is a need for children to be guided properly on what they see, listen to and watch.
Also, poetry and its classifications will be presented along with some examples for
children.

Tabula Rasa: Children’s minds are likened to a blank slate, and that all
knowledge comes from experience and perception. Whatever is fed in a child’s mind
will be recorded there like writing in a clean sheet.

Learning tasks and examples are provided for enjoyment and appreciation of
the course.

Learning Outcomes

a. Appreciate the importance of teaching nursery rhymes and poetry to

children.
b. Identify appropriate easy to learn nursery rhymes and poetry.
c. Express thoughts, feelings and imaginations in creative activities like drawing,
clay modeling, and painting
d. Express the meaning and rhythm of a poem in pantomime or interpretative
dance.
e. Create a learning material using poetry.

Learning Content
Mother Goose Rhymes/Nursery Rhymes

A. Definition

A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many
other countries, but usage of the term only dates from the late 18 th and early19th
century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes.

A Brief History

From the mid-16th century nursery rhymes begin to be recorded in English

plays, and most popular rhymes date from the 17th and 18th centuries. The first
English collections, Tommy Thumb's Song Book and a sequel, Tommy Thumb's
Pretty Song Book, were published by Mary Cooper in 1744. Publisher John
Newbery's stepson, Thomas Carnan, was the first to use the term Mother Goose for
nursery rhymes when he published a compilation of English rhymes, Mother Goose's
Melody, or, Sonnets for the Cradle (London, 1780).

The oldest children's songs of which we have records are lullabies, intended

to help a child fall asleep. Lullabies can be found in every human culture. The
English term lullaby is thought to come from "lu, lu" or "la la" sounds made by
mothers or nurses to calm children, and "by by" or "bye bye", either another lulling
sound or a term for good night. Until the modern era lullabies were usually only
recorded incidentally in written sources.

B. Qualities of Nursery Rhymes

Children who know nursery rhymes develop a strong sense of well-being.

Time passes pleasantly and they “feel good” and are happy with themselves.

Children who know nursery rhymes are overflowing with self-confidence and
self-esteem. They are curious and imaginative and can show off their ability to recite
or sing a rhyme with deep satisfaction and from memory. The rhymes come alive
with the creative use of their voice, eyes, facial expression and body language.
Children who have nursery rhymes read or sung to them become effective
communicators.

Nursery rhymes usually have special features such as repetitions, double

rhymes, and the possibility of using alternative lyrics. They use melodic contours in
phrases after a series of arch shapes, called anacrusis. Phrases have ascent
balanced by a descent; applying the concept of up and down. Lyrics of nursery
rhymes also contain elements of tension and resolution. There is also power in
phrasing as emphasis is often placed in pitch, volume and accent in the beginning,
middle or end of a phrase or sentence, the positioning of which changes the
meaning. Rhymes lend themselves naturally to dramatization supporting the
meaning with words and actions. All these help in the formative development of their
language skills.

Nursery Rhymes and the Development of Language Skills

Young children often begin to speak English by sharing rhymes with their
parents or peers. Nursery Rhymes are the most effective way of rapidly developing a
child's vocabulary, grammar, syntax. By playing with the short texts of rhymes,
children explore the mechanics of the English language. They find out how language
works and become familiar with the relationship between the 44 sounds of English
and the 26 alphabet letters – information which will help them when they begin
reading to decode the sounds that make up words.

Examples of Nursery Rhymes

Nursery rhymes feature huge lists of information that can be used daily: numbers,
days of the week, the alphabet, colors, shapes, etc. Here are some simple
classifications:

Themes Nursery rhymes

Hello or goodbye themes Hello, how do you do?
Rhymes with names that can be Diddle, diddle dumpling,
personalized by changing to family My son John,
names Went to bed
With his trousers on.
Counting Theme One Two Buckle my Shoe
Alphabet Theme ABC song has lyrics of the 24 alphabets
Animal Theme Old Macdonald had a Farm
Weather Theme Rain, Rain, Go away
Food Theme Hot Cross Buns; Peas Porridge Hot
Transportation Theme Row,Row ,Row your Boat
……and you can add more!

Nursery rhymes have a predictable musical form with a clear beginning,

middle and end. This helps children to anticipate each phrase of the song, and to join
in with singing, gesture and movement. Think of the universal favorite nursery rhyme
“Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. This song has six notes all within the child’s pitch range
C-A.  The song starts and ends the same way, the middle section is repeated. The
song is simple, predictable and highly memorable.

Some Suggested Activities

Flash Cards: Flashcards can be used to introduce words to develop vocabulary

acquisition. By placing them in a certain chronological order we can also prod a child
to story sequencing. Hand Puppets: Rhymes such as 'Where is Thumbkin' use finger
puppets and lyrics to name the five different fingers.

Rhyme shows: For special occasions like the child's birthday, a rhyme show could
allow the child to recite a rhyme or two. Children welcome opportunities to show their
skills and the praise received does much to motivate them. The preparation for the
show is just as important as it gives children a valid reason to keep practising and
revising their pronunciation and performance.
Rhyme Games: Form rhyming words, like 'four', 'door', 'cat',' sat' etc.

Rhyme cards and books: Make birthday or celebration cards. Make a book. These
self-made materials will inspire children to write their own rhymes and encourage
them in creative writing.

Links to Aesthetic and Musical Development

Nursery Rhymes have shown to have a positive effect on a child's aesthetic

and musical sensitivity. Most nursery rhymes usually start off as a short tune which
the children can easily sing and memorize. Thus early musical training can also be
easily and simultaneously incorporated seamlessly into their language literacy
programme.

C. Values of Nursery Rhymes

Nursery rhymes contain all the rhythmic movement patterns of early

childhood: walking, running, skipping and galloping. They provide young children
with a rich musical vocabulary of rhythmic patterns, melodies/tunes, emotional
expression and predictable phrases that they can incorporate into their own musical
play. With practice, children delight in making up their own songs and words based
on this nursery rhyme vocabulary.

Singing and dancing to nursery rhymes promote listening, timing (being able
to move sing and play in time with others), expression and playful interaction. The
nursery rhymes include much use of predictable phrasing, accent, word patterning,
dramatic expression and repetition. Rhythmic patterning lays the foundation for
language.
 VERSES FOR CHILDREN

Definition

A verse is a series of lyrics that tell the main story of the song and keep the
action or thoughts moving forward. Verses are an important part of a song. A song
may have one verse or many. Whatever the number, they take the main idea and
explore it in different ways. Usually verses are a similar length and have a meter or
pulse.

Verse & Refrain Example

The simplest song structure uses only verses. Here's an example: 'When You
Wish Upon A Star', which was written for Walt Disney's animated version
of Pinocchio (1940). This favorite from the classic film features four simple two-line
verses. The first is as follows: 'When you wish upon a star, makes no difference that
you are; anything your heart desires, will come to you.' That's it, simple, concise, and
heartfelt.

Other types of structures include songs that use a refrain at the end of each
verse, a repeated line or phrase that emphasizes the main point. An example of this
song type is 'What a Wonderful World' by Louis Armstrong. You've probably heard it
in a movie or TV show. It begins with a verse that says: 'I see trees of green, red
roses too, I see them bloom for me and you . . . ' After more description, the verse
ends with the phrase, 'And I think to myself what a wonderful world.' The song goes
on to celebrate clouds and sky, night and day, and other things we see around us.
The verses emphasize the beauty and variety of life, and each ends with, 'And I think
to myself what a wonderful world’.

Verses in a song have the same melody but contain different words. The
verses may also follow the same rhythm or pattern, though the lyrics or words are
different from verse to verse
Types of Verses

1. Formal verse: Formal verse is poetry with a strict meter (a regular pattern of

stressed and unstressed syllables) and rhyme scheme. Lines contain the same
number of syllables.

2. Blank verse: Blank verse is a literary device defined as un-rhyming verse written in

iambic pentameter. In poetry and prose, it has a consistent meter with 10 syllables in
each line (pentameter); where, unstressed syllables are followed by stressed ones,
five of which are stressed but do not rhyme. It is also known as “un-rhymed iambic
pentameter.”

3. Free verse: Free verse is a literary device that can be defined as poetry that
is free from limitations of regular meter or rhythm, and does not rhyme with fixed
forms. Such poems are without rhythm and rhyme schemes, do not follow regular
rhyme scheme rules, yet still provide artistic expression.
Identify the type of verse these examples belong to. Write your answers in the boxes
below them.

Let’s try this!

POETRY
 Poetry is a type of literature based on the interplay of words and rhythm. It
often employs rhyme and meter (a set of rules governing the number and
arrangement of syllables in each line). In poetry, words are strung together to form
sounds, images, and ideas that might be too complex or abstract to describe directly.
Poetry is probably the oldest form of literature, and probably predates the origin of
writing itself. The oldest written manuscripts we have are poems, mostly epic poems
telling the stories of ancient mythology. Examples include the Epic of Gilgamesh and
the Vedas (sacred texts of Hinduism). This style of writing may have developed to
help people memorize long chains of information in the days before writing. Rhythm
and rhyme can make the text more memorable, and thus easier to preserve for
cultures that do not have a written language. Poetry can be written with all the same
purposes as any other kind of literature – beauty, humour, storytelling, political
messages, etc.

A. Classifications of Poetry

1. Narrative poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often making the voices of
a narrator and characters as well; the entire story is usually written in
metered verse. Narrative poems do not need rhyme.

For examples of narrative poems for children, you may visit this link

https://www.poetry4kids.com/poetic-device/narrative/
 a. Ballad is a poem with short stanzas that usually has four lines but
not always and tells a story called narrative. Ballad poems have
rhymes and they use simple rhyming structure. The rhyming structure On Top of Spaghetti
found in ballad poems makes them fun to read aloud, and that's why On top of spaghetti,
they were originally written. Many times ballad poems were set to All covered with cheese,
music and performed for an audience. So, doesn't it make sense that I lost my poor meatball,
those sappy love ballads you hear are just like ballad poems? When somebody
sneezed.
It rolled off the table,
And onto the floor,
And then my poor
meatball,
Rolled out of the door.'

b. Epic is a lengthy narrative, ordinarily involving a time beyond living memory in

which occurred the extraordinary doings of the extraordinary men and women who,
in dealings with the gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal
universe for their descendants, the poet and his audience, to understand themselves
as a people or nation.

Example

Epic Stories for Children

Title Theme
  The Dedication of Ekalavya Hard work, respect, dedication
The Devotion of Surdas Unconditional love and devotion
The Courage of Abhimanyu Loyalty to family
The Integrity of Rama Friendship and integrity
The Strength of Durga Courage and strength of women
c. Romantic Poetry emphasizes on emotional and imaginative spontaneity and the
importance of self-expression and individual feeling. The poet, according to the
Romantics, is only at peace when in nature.

Title Author Theme

My Heart Leaps Up William Wordsworth The joy in seeing a
rainbow
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud William Wordsworth Celebrating the host of
daffodils
Frost at Midnight Samuel Taylor Night time meditation and
Coleridge raising children
The Rime of the Ancient Samuel Taylor Killing an albatross
Mariner Coleridge bringing bad luck upon the
crew of a ship
The Yellowhammer’s Nest John Clare The beauty of the world of
birds and how that beauty
will eventually be
interrupted by weeds and
predators.
Mont Blanc Percy Shelley The power of the
mountain against the
power of the human
imagination.
Ode to a Nightingale John Keats The conflicted nature of
human life
Darkness Lord Byron Cold, gloomy earth

2. Lyric Poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or

feelings, typically spoken in the first person. It does not tell a story.
 ELEGY

O Captain! My Captain!
by Walt Whitman
a. Elegy
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
Expresses grief at death The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is
won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
Usually dignified While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and
daring;
Formal language and structure But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
  Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

ODE

b. Ode
Any sustained lyric poem of exalted theme.
Often commemorating some important event.
Dignified formal language / irregular structure

SONNET
 
c. Sonnet
Dignified subject matter
FIXED FORM
 

3. Dramatic Poetry encompasses a highly emotional story that's written in verse and
meant to be recited. It usually tells a story or refers to a specific situation.
 a. Dramatic Narrative: Tells a story by the persons involved.
b. Dramatic Monologue: One speaking to others on stage. They listen,
character speaks.
c. Soliloquy: One character on stage speaking alone (to himself.)

 
Visit this link for sample dramatic poetry for children:

https://www.dramanotebook.com/monologues-kids/

B. Factors Affecting the Appreciation of Poetry

1. The teacher must have

 natural love for poetry
 broad educational background
 reading excellence
 familiarity with allusions, art, history, science, reference to the bible, etc.
2. The pupil
 know the pupil’s level of background knowledge, interests, and responses
 encourage pupils who like to read aloud
provide them with varied activities and inspire them
select poems with rhymes, jingles, ditties, and nonsense verses
older ones like poems of love, poems of home, and inspirational poems

Values of Poetry

1. Enriches children's experiences

2. Develops correct enunciation and pronunciation of words.
3. Develops the imagination.
4. Develops literary appreciation.
Activities that children can involve in
 CHORAL SPEAKING/CHORAL
READING

A. Background of Choral Speaking/Reading

Choral speaking or reading is a speaking or reading by a group often using

various voice combinations and contrasts to bring out the meaning or tonal beauty of
a passage of poetry or prose.

Choral reading or speaking is simply reading or reciting in unison under the

direction of a leader. It is not a new technique, for people have engaged in it for
centuries.  It was an extremely important element of Greek theatre. In the past,
choral speaking was used as an important means of communication and
communion; today it is an art form as well and is employed both ways by the theatre,
the church and the school.

B. Values of Choral Speaking

 Can be used successfully in any room with a large number of people
(approx. 20).
 Provides speech movement (pitch, volume, rate and tone quality).
 Provides social cooperation (group works towards a common goal).
 Suitable for any age.

C. Types of Choral Arrangement

 1. Unison: The whole group reads together
2. Antiphonal: This is a division into two groups with each taking certain parts.
3. Cumulative: It is used for the purpose of building toward a climax or certain high
points.
4. Solo: Often lines or stanzas call for individual reading.
5. Line-Around: This is solo work, in which each line is taken by a different reader.
6.Refrain: One person reads the narrative portion of the text while the rest of the
group joins in the refrain.

D. Poems suitable for Choral Speaking

Here is a short poem that can be used as a choir. It can be used as a part of
the warm-up during rehearsals, used to announce the start or finish or rehearsal,
used just for fun, or used during a performance to introduce a choral speaking piece:

The Frog on the Log

There once
Was a green
Little frog, frog, frog--
Who played
In the wood
On a log, log, log!
A screech owl
Sitting
In a tree, tree, tree--
Came after
The frog
With a scree, scree, scree!
When the frog
Heard the owl--
In a flash, flash, flash--
He leaped
In the pond
With a splash, splash, splash!