Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Go to work on a poem

When my son Patrick was younger (he is now 12) we often read poetry together, but we hadn’t done any for quite a while. Quite by chance I was looking through a poetry anthology (looking for a reference) recently during that part of the morning before he goes to school, and suggested that we read a bit. I was thrilled when he actually switched off the cartoons and said, yes that would be nice. So this is our new routine.

I tend to be a bit of a re-reader of poetry (rather than reading new stuff), my all time favourites being Ozymandias (Shelley) and The Solitary Reaper (Wordsworth). I am also very fond of my Mothers favourite - Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening (Robert Frost). Patrick’s favourite poem seems to be The Snake (D H Lawrence).

I have started reading him the Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Coleridge) which may take us a while.

What shall we read after that?

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

For a 12 year old boy you surely can't go too wrong with Jabberwocky.

http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/jabber/jabberwocky.html

Or even the English version of Beowulf:

http://publicliterature.org/books/beowulf/xaa.php

Not quite so literary as your choices so far, but good fun.

Tessa Shepperson said...

We have read jabberwocky in the past - it is a bit tricky to read out loud though! Beowulf is a good idea - I will look into that. Thanks!