I pulled an old favorite book off our bookshelf the other day, and have been delighting in it anew with the kids every day this week. It is
A Child's Anthology of Poetry, edited by Elizabeth Hauge Sword. I found this book when Jack was 4, and I was on a quest to find some of the classic old poems that I had loved as a child. I believe I was specifically searching for Animals Crackers and Cocoa to Drink and the Children's Hour. Finding both in this volume, I returned home happily. But, it wasn't until I had a chance later to sit down and flip through the entire book that I realized what a treasure I had stumbled upon. This anthology contains every poem that I remember learning as a child. After perusing the entirety of the book, I felt like I would never have the need for another poetry book in my life - they were all in this one volume! Clearly an exaggeration, but it describes perfectly what a wonderful job I believe Elizabeth Sword did in compiling this anthology. I can't think of a single poem I would add. From the Village Blacksmith, to the Cremation of Sam McGee, Sick, Mr Nobody, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Winken, Blinken and Nod, Paul Revere's Ride, the Raven, and more. And we have discovered new favorites as well, like Eddie the Spaghetti Nut, and my kids' favorite, the Old Pond. The kids occasionally grumble when I pull this book off the shelf at story time, but before I know it, they are all snuggled in beside me, laughing, or listening attentively. And after a few stanzas, they are begging for more. Once we've started, they never want us to put the book down!
I should credit both my father and grandfather, as well as my 6th grade English teacher Ms. Whiteside for instilling in me such a love of poetry. The poem below is one of my all time favorites, and my recollection is that I memorized it for Ms. Whiteside's class. (We each had to memorize and recite a poem out loud to the whole class about once a month.)
The Children's Hour
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Between the dark and the daylight,
When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day's occupations,
That is known as the Children's Hour.
I hear in the chamber above me
The patter of little feet,
The sound of a door that is opened,
And voices soft and sweet.
From my study I see in the lamplight,
Descending the broad hall stair,
Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra,
And Edith with golden hair.
A whisper, and then a silence:
Yet I know by their merry eyes
They are plotting and planning together
To take my by surprise.
A sudden rush from the stiarway,
A sudden raid from the hall!
By three doors left unguarded
They enter my castle wall!
The climb up into my turret
O'er the arms and back of my chair;
If I try to escape, they surround me;
They seem to be everywhere.
They almost devour me with kisses,
Their arms about me entwine,
Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen
In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine!
Do you think, O blue-eyed banditti,
Because you have scaled the wall,
Such an old mustache as I am
Is not a match for you all!
I have you fast in my fortress,
And will not let you depart,
But put you down into the dingeon
In the round-tower of my heart.
And there I will keep you forever,
Yes, forever and a day,
Till the walls shall crumble to ruin,
And moulder and dust away!
