A Few of My Favorite Things: Episode 9: A Child's Garden of Songs

Poetry teaches vocabulary and abstract thinking and helps children to find beauty in everyday things.  Because so many poems rhyme and have rhythm, poems are fairly easy for children to memorize.

Today I want to talk about a book of poems from my childhood.  A Child’s Garden of Verses is a beautiful collection of Robert Louis Stevenson’s poetry.  The poems talk about simple things through the eyes of a child.  In “Land of Counterpane”, Stevenson talks about the things he did to amuse himself while recovering from an illness.  In “Bed in Summer”, Stevenson talks about how hard it is to go to bed while the sun is still out during the long days of summer.   There are many poems about childhood imagination. Because of the simple words, A Child's Garden of Verses is one of the first books I ask my children to read on their own.

"In winter I get up at night

 And dress by yellow candlelight.

 

In summer just the other way,

 

I have to go to bed by day." 

-From "Bed in Summer" by Robert Louis Stevenson

 

 

 

Ted Jacobs, a musician and composer,  set many of the poems from A Child’s Garden of Verses to music.   The gentle folk music uses uillean pipes, penny whistles, fiddles, and dulcimers among other instruments.

A Child's Garden of Songs is available for Amazon Prime Streaming.  Jacobs revisited the book in his second album Back to the Garden.  I just learned that Jacobs has another album of poetry by American poets set to music, and he is working on some other poetry projects.  I am so pleased with the two albums I own that I will be adding to my library very soon! 

 

I am very excited to share a success story with you.  This is one of the students I tutor in my home.  He has a low working memory, so he needs a lot of practice in order to retain information.   Through hard work, he is now able to read some of the poems in A Child's Garden of Verses.  He loves "The Swing." 

Abstract concepts are difficult for my student, but poetry is helping him to step away from the concrete.  A few weeks ago, we read "The Land of Nod."  This poem taught him some vocabulary: abroad means to travel across the sea; afar means far away.  He was also able to say that when you fall asleep it feels like you are traveling abroad, but really you are just dreaming. 

This student has memorized some of the poems by listening to Ted Jacob's songs. His confidence has skyrocketed.  I am so proud of him!