Fell off the book buying wagon again this week – the library is having a bit of an extra clear out ahead of a reorganisation, so there are some very tempting bargains on offer.
One little treasure is Where’s That Poem: An Index of Poems for Children compiled by Helen Morris & originally published in 1967. It was aimed at teachers who might be trying to track down a particular poem, or were looking for suitable poems on a particular topic. It also contains a useful set of pithy reviews of the main anthologies available for schools back then.
So something for me to both wallow in nostalgically – Oh yes, I had forgotten all about that one - or take as an inspiration to track down something which is new to me – for example [Alan] Brownjohn’s Beasts.
Helen Morris took a robust view on what counted as suitable for children: “To classify poems as suitable for a particular age group is to err … To say that a particular poem is suitable for a child of a particular age is to try to cram every child into a teacher-designed & teacher-enforced scheme of development which bears no resemblance to real, personal individual growth.”
But nor was she on the side of those who, in the Seventies, took this attitude to the lengths of saying that teachers should not enforce schemes of grammar & spelling on children but rather encourage them to use their own creativity to produce their own kind of poetry. She confirms my memory that the poetry of Andrew Young was very popular in schools “Recommended for use … to teach children to look closely & describe accurately.” That advice may have worked better for children who had more experience of rural life & nature than it does for today’s urban, car-transported offspring, though he may once again speak to children if they are to experience much ice & frost & snow in our changed climate.
