Good Essay On Reasons For Sharing Poetry

Writings are the most valuable heritage left to us by our predecessors, which have to be transferred from one generation to another as they are traces of our own history and one of the ways of learning the existence. All poems have different goals and represent various issues and the age category. It is the ability of thinking, making analogies, conducting analyses and experiencing deep feelings that determine us as human beings among all creatures on our planet. Every person needs to read and feel poetry, but children are the ones who need it for sure as they are at the stage of forming their individualities in which poetry plays one of the most essential roles. So what are the motives for sharing poetic “assets” with children?
The first reason for sharing poetry with children is increasing level of literacy that is an essential part of any person’s development. For this reason, adults should put literacy into a child’s individuality from the early age. I would prefer giving to children the poem “My Shadow” written by Robert Louis Stevenson (1990) as a lot of English rules are implemented in it and a child can draw much of it. The second reason is that it describes a shadow of a child who is surprised by its various forms: “[About the shadow] The funniest things about him is the way he likes to grow – not at all like proper children, which is always very slow; for he sometimes shoots up taller like an India rubber ball, And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all”. Except for developing literacy in child, this poem will also teach him to pay attention to every detail and notice certain regular things. The second poem I would share with children to increase their level of literacy is “Now the Day is Over” by Sabine Baring-Gould (1914), in which the author also describes beautiful and exquisite nature and the end of the day for a girl: “Now the day is over, night is drawing nigh, shadows of the evening steal across the sky”. The evening is depicted with beautiful words which will make a child read it till the end and enjoy description and the plot. Along with this, the religion is spread among small readers: “[To Jesus mentioned earlier] Comfort every sufferer watching late in pain; those who plan some evil from their sin restrain”.
Children have to learn the feeling of melody, rhythm and rhyme in order to be perfect listeners, and, possibly, some of them will end up as singers. Almost all poems are built by a certain structure and combine ideal description of things or feelings with the composition of rhyme, and this is what makes poetry popular among people of all generations. With this purpose I would give the children poem called “There Was a Little Girl” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1883), which is easy for reading and rhymes perfectly. The poem is about a little girl, so the plot of the poem will be catching for children: “There was a little girl, who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead”.
Another poem I would introduce when conducting, for instance, my poetry lesson is “Time to Rise” by Robert Louis Stevenson (1998). The poem has rhyming elements and teaches children to get up early: “A birdie with a yellow bill hopped upon the window sill”.
The third reason for sharing poetry I would mention is helping parents in upbringing their children. Except for learning about the world and training the brain, children go to school to learn to live in society and be polite, ceremonious and well-bred. I would choose two poems for helping parents to teach their kids good manners. The first one would be “Whole Duty of Children” by Robert Louis Stevenson (1999). Tis poem instructs children how they should act in various situations: “A child should always say what's true, and speak when he is spoken to, and behave mannerly at table”. The second poem chosen by me is “Two Little Kittens” by Mohammad Junaid (1984). It is aimed more at children who have sisters or brothers in their family, though the example of kittens teaches children that it is better to obey rather than quarrel: “Two little kittens, one stormy night, began to quarrel, and then to fight; one had a mouse, the other had none For they found it was better, that stormy night, to lie down and sleep than to quarrel and fight.”
The next reason why I would share poetry with children is to develop feelings for everything exquisite in the world, especially nature that is to be preserved for the next generations. Children have to know how useful nature is for human beings. For example, the fact that trees produce oxygen all people breathe, or that water is one of the most essential component liquids of our bodies. In order to express this, I would prefer the poem “Good Night and Good Morning” by Richard Monckton Milnes and Walter Severn (1859) which stresses on the unity of a human and nature, and also teaches a little person to love his work: “A fair little girl sat under a tree, Sewing as long as her eyes could see; Then smoothed her work, and folded it right, And said, "Dear work, good night! good night!" Such a number of rooks came over her head, Crying, "Caw! Caw!" on their way to bed”. Another poem I would introduce to the children is “The Rainbow” by Christina Rossetti (1904), where the beauty of nature is described and children would learn to be optimistic through it, see the world in bright colors: “Boats sail on the rivers, And ships sail on the seas; But clouds that sail across the sky Are prettier than these.” Except for implementing its purpose, every poem has to contain some teaching element for children so that a child, after reading it, could ask if the boat really sails in the river and the ship in the sea.
The last reason I would definitely mention in the list of those for learning children something through poetry is teaching them to develop their philosophical judgment and be able to talk about difficult things as love and hatred, life and death, etc. The poem I would pick to teach children think philosophically is “Answer to a Child's Question” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1995), in which the love is mentioned: “Do you ask what the birds say? The sparrow, the dove, the linner and thrush say, “I love and I love!” The poem also aims at introducing to a child positive thinking that I would like to teach them. And the second poem I would read and analyze with children is “Where Did You Come From, Baby Dear?” by George MacDonald (1990), which makes little people think of their origin and ideality of their physical essence, which will result in their confidence in the future: “Where did you get your eyes so blue? Out of the sky as I came through. Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss? Three angels gave me at once a kiss”.
It is quite frequent when children do not listen to adults if the warnings or notices come out of them proper, but when children find evidence to their words in the writings of people not related to them, it rather would make more sense for them.

Works Cited

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Answer to a Child's Question. Hoboken, N.J.: BiblioBytes, 1995. Print.
Gould, Sabine. Now the Day Is Over. New and Rev. ed. Edinburgh: John Grant, 1914. Print.
Janoo, Mohammad Junaid. Two Little Kittens. 1984. Print.
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. There Was a Little Girl. New York: R. Worthington, 1883. Print.
MacDonald, George. Where Did You Come From, Baby Dear? Champaign, Ill.: Project Gutenberg, 1990. Print.
Milnes, Richard Monckton, and Walter Severn. Good Night & Good Morning. London: Day & Son, 1859. Print.
Rossetti, Christina Georgina. The Rainbow. London: Macmillan ;, 1904. Print.
Stevenson, Robert Louis. My Shadow. New York: Putnam, 1990. Print.
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Time to Rise. Champaign, Ill.: Project Gutenberg, 1998. Print.
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Whole Duty of Children. Raleigh, N.C.: Alex Catalogue, 1999. Print.