Poetry Starts in Childhood

It all begins with silly rhymes and frolicking rhythms, a repetition of meter and phrase. Peppered with bright imagery and words that pop, children’s poetry is a playful dance through language. The most memorable poems pay homage to cadence and keep count carefully, tenderly nudging the imagination into a soundscape of wonders and the ridiculous.

Shel Silverstein was a master of this craft. The excerpt that follows is from the poem “One Inch Tall” from Where the Sidewalk Ends: Poems and Drawings:

“If you were only one inch tall, you’d walk beneath the door,
And it would take about a month to get down to the store.
A bit of fluff would be your bed,
You’d swing upon a spider’s thread,
And wear a thimble on your head
If you were one inch tall.”

Children’s poetry often finds it strength in simplicity, and many poets that write for children have mastered the craft of stating the obvious in a delightful manner that tickles the senses and begs to be read aloud in a sing-song voice.

Dr. Suess is one of the most beloved children’s poets. He wrote over 44 books, telling wild, outlandish stories in rhyme. His titles are among the best known in children’s literature. The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham (I Can Read It All by Myself Beginner Books), and How the Grinch Stole Christmas! are just a few of his well known works.

The example below, from Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (Classic Seuss) demonstrates the bare bones of what it means to write for kids.

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.

The text is rich with nouns and verbs, and the effect is direct and action-packed. Adjectives and adverbs are generally absent. Many writers heavily sauce their scripts with descriptive verbiage, not realizing that instead of adding to the richness of a piece, this will often create the opposite effect and minimize the most important element: action.

Though their poetry has begun many a journey into the world of literature, Shel Silverstein and Dr. Suess were anything but beginners. Who are some of your favorite authors of children’s poetry? Do you write poems for kids to read?

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