# Suggest some poems.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 23, 2004, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717 "2004-10-23T01:38:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717/1 "2004-10-23T01:38:50Z")
… to be told to 5th, 6th, and 7th graders. A little while ago, a schoolteacher friend asked if I could come into her school, and read some poems for the classes there. She asked me, she said, because I have done some voice acting in the past–she wants the poems to “come alive,” as she puts it, as I orally interpret them. The point, apparently, is to show the kids that poetry is not just something printed on the page for bland reading and recital, but something that really does express the poet’s mood, thoughts, and ideas. It sounded challenging, and I agreed to do it, though (and maybe I stepped too far here), I offered to memorize everything, rather than reading it. Anyway, I’d like some suggestions for poems, if you can help. She’d like me to do three or four, and so far, I’m thinking of choosing from among the following: Rudyard Kipling’s “If” (Actually, the teacher specifically asked for this one, so it’s a must-do.) Shel Silverstein’s “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout” Thayer’s “Casey at the Bat” Service’s “The Cremation of Sam McGee” or “The Shooting of Dan McGrew” I may include one of my own as well, but are there any others that you can suggest? Remember, the kids are aged 10 to 12 or so, so most of what we studied in college is probably out. But maybe not. What’s got plenty of rhythm and rhyme, so I can do the most with my recital time? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717/2 "2004-10-23T05:06:21Z")
Robert Frost’s “Stopping by a Wood” Blake’s “Tyger” Ogden Nash’s “The Termite” Dr. Seuss’s “Too Many Daves” ---
**Author:** ![Grasshopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f19dbf/32.png) [@Grasshopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grasshopper)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717/3 "2004-10-23T05:19:07Z")
James Whitcomb Riley’s “When the Frost Is on the Punkin” _The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn, And the raspin’ of the tangled leaves, as golden as the morn; The stubble in thr furries-kindo’ lonesome-like, but still A-preachin’ sermons to us of the barnsthey growed to fill;_ seasonally appropriate! ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717/4 "2004-10-23T05:41:20Z")
Jabberwocky! Or how 'bout some Poe? Annabelle Lee? The Raven? Very good to read aloud. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717/5 "2004-10-23T05:49:03Z")
Or the other “The Raven”, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. (warning, [PDF](http://www.horrormasters.com/Text/a_087.pdf) file) ---
**Author:** ![Kallessa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7993a0/32.png) [@Kallessa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kallessa)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717/6 "2004-10-23T07:31:46Z")
Challenge them, skip Service (they can read him on their own and get whatever worthit has) and do Robinson Jeffers’ _Hurt Hawks_. A sample (the whole poem is not much longer): \*He stands under the oak-bush and waits The lame feet of salvation; at night he remembers freedom And flies in a dream, the dawn ruins it. He is strong and pain is worse to the strong, incapacity is worse. * * * We had fed him for six weeks, I gave him freedom, He wandered over the foreland hill and returned in the evening, asking for death, Not like a begger, still eyed with the old Implacable arrogance. I gave him the lead gift in the twilight. What fell was relaxed, Owl-downy, soft feminine feathers; but what Soared: the fierce rush:the night herons by the flooded river cried fear at its rising Before is was quite unsheathed from reality.\* A biology teacher friend of mine read this to inner city middle school kids and sparked the best discussion of the year–they started begging him to read more poems, and to re-read this one. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717/7 "2004-10-23T14:38:21Z")
If you’re going to read Poe, I suggest The Bells. It has a wonderful rythm. I also suggest The Pointy Birds by Stephen Martin Pointy birds. Oh, pointy pointy! Anoint my head! Anointy nointy! ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717/8 "2004-10-23T17:24:39Z")
“There was an old man from Nantucket”? Maybe not. Try [this one](http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem2644.html) instead. The ones I thought of first have already been mentioned. (I’ll second “Stopping by a Wood” and “Jabberwocky” for sure, and any of those by Poe.) There are lots more, though! I hope you intend to give a little background for the ones you choose; that makes the actual lines even better. - Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “How do I Love Thee” would be good for romance, or maybe one of Shakespeare’s sonnets if the kids can handle the language. - [Ogden Nash](http://www.aenet.org/poems/ognash3.htm) has some funny short subjects, or you could use a few haiku for a different tone. - Coleridge’s [“Kublai Khan”](http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A493959) has a great back-story (laudanum and the “person from Porlock”), and is a great poem besides. - Finally, they might get hooked into reading the rest if you were to give them a page or two of [The Rime of the Ancient Mariner](http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Rime_Ancient_Mariner.html). It’s a great poem and a great story. Of course, if you were to record your performance to mp3 and post a link, I’m sure all of us would be eternally grateful! ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717/9 "2004-10-23T17:37:19Z")
Encourage them to find a voice of their own and read them whatever you like from [Teen Ink](http://www.teenink.com/Poetry/AZindex.html) . ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717/10 "2004-10-24T00:19:13Z")
[Miniver Cheevy](http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/robinson/12640) [Hilaire Belloc](http://poetry.poetryx.com/poets/82/) especially [Matilda](http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/assemble_texts.html?SongCycleId=986) [Ozymandias](http://www.jadis.demon.co.uk/poems/poetry.htm) [ningnangnong](http://www.koikadit.net/SMilligan/ningnangnong.html) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717/11 "2004-10-24T01:00:41Z")
[Kubla Khan](http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Kubla_Khan.html) > [@](#): > > And all who heard should see them there, > And all should cry, Beware ! Beware ! > His flashing eyes, his floating hair ! > Weave a circle round him thrice, > And close your eyes with holy dread, > For he on honey-dew hath fed, > And drunk the milk of Paradise. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717/12 "2004-10-24T01:03:37Z")
Damn! I missed **rjk** ’s link to Kubla Khan. OK, how about this? T. S. Eliot’s [The Hollow Men](http://www.cs.umbc.edu/~evans/hollow.html) > [@](#): > > This is the dead land > This is cactus land > Here the stone images > Are raised, here they receive > The supplication of a dead man’s hand > Under the twinkle of a fading star. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717/13 "2004-10-24T01:25:08Z")
Have you seen the giant pistons On the mighty C.P.R. With the driving force of a thousand horse Then you know what pistons are. (maybe not) ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717/14 "2004-10-24T02:40:47Z")
[The Flower](http://www.bartleby.com/246/389.html) by Alfred, Lord Tennyson Homework Machine by Shel Silverstein [Warning](http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poet=6807&poem=31671) by Jenny Joseph (I also really like [Northern Farmer: New Style](http://www.netpoets.com/classic/poems/064018.htm) for reading out loud, but that would probably blow their minds. “Dosn’t thou 'ear my 'erse’s legs, as they canters awaäy? / Proputty, proputty, proputty – that’s what I ‘ears ‘em saäy. / Proputty, proputty, proputty – Sam, thou’s an ass for thy païns; / Theers moo sense i’ one o’ 'is legs nor in all thy braïns.”) ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717/15 "2004-10-24T02:49:37Z")
A lot of the Imagist poetry–Amy Lowell, for starters–is beautiful and creates wonderful images. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717/16 "2004-10-27T15:06:18Z")
There are some good suggestions here–maybe I will skip Service indeed, and try a few other things. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” may be too advanced for this age group, but maybe something from _Old Possum’s Book_ would be good. And I like the idea of “Ozymandias,” since I was about this age when I first learned it. But I plan to have a look at all your suggestions. Thanks, all, for helping out! ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717/17 "2004-10-27T15:32:29Z")
How about some e. e. cummings? Shows that language doesn’t have to be stiff all the time. Here are a couple of my favorites: url=“[http://plagiarist.com/poetry/284/](http://plagiarist.com/poetry/284/)” i thank You God for most this amazing day /url url=“[http://plagiarist.com/poetry/278/](http://plagiarist.com/poetry/278/)” i carry your heart with me /url ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717/18 "2004-10-27T17:17:30Z")
Ulysses is my favourite “Though much is taken, much abides; and though We are not now that strength which in the old days Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are, One equal-temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717/19 "2004-10-27T18:07:41Z")
I was going to suggest e.e. cummings, although not the particular poems that **Beadalin** likes. But I’m wondering about the site linked to. [Plagiarist.com](http://Plagiarist.com)? They claim to be a poetry lovers site, but both the cummings’ poems are still in copyright. So are many of the other poems there. Nowhere do they say that they have bought rights to report the works. They also post this: > [@](#): > > Have an assignment on a poet, poem, or number of poems? Don’t even have a clue about how you should begin? > > Then Plagiarist PoetryNotes is your answer! > … > > If the PoetryNotes™ are unavailable in our catalog, you may order a Custom PoetryNotes™ for any poem included in our poetry archive. > > Your paper will be delivered via e-mail, so you don’t have to worry about shipping or handling. > > Remember, getting help is NOT the same as cheating. You’d be foolish to try to complete your assignment without assistance. and smugly, this: > [@](#): > > We are NOT a site that will do your homework for you. The previous owners of this domain name sold term papers to cheaters (who almost certainly got caught). Although it looks legitimate at first glance, and I assume that b]Beadalin\*\* just meant it as a useful link, this site makes me very queasy. ---
**Author:** ![Waccoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Waccoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waccoe)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717/20 "2004-10-27T18:19:31Z")
I think \*The Wasteland \*is OK for this, because even though it’s so difficult, you can respond to how great it sounds without understanding it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-poems/270717.md?page=2)