Recently, as I browsed through a local book
shop, my eye was caught by something that took me back to my childhood. It was a quote, the title of a slim book
piled on a tabled. I read ‘I wandered
lonely as a cloud’ and instantly I found myself reciting in my head several
subsequent lines of this supposedly well known poem by William Wordsworth. Since I was born in the very county where
Wordsworth penned these famous lines, I expect it was natural for me to commit them
to memory, but that I should actually remember them surprised me.
I picked up the book by Ana Sampson to see
what it was about and was amazed to find that on every page to which I turned
at random, I found a poem that I knew and considered to be one of my
favourites. The book was only $10 so
naturally I bought it. Now I am not an
avid reader of poetry by any means, nor do I have a great capacity to memorise
or remember words, titles, authors and the like, so I was intrigued that I was
familiar with so much of what the book contained. For several days I scanned randomly through
the book reminiscing and wondering where I had acquired this familiarity with
so many of the poems included in the book.
Let me describe the book a little
more. The rest of the title is ‘and
other poems you half remember from school’.
The inclusions are arranged in chronological order according to the era
of the poets. It starts from Chaucer and
travels right through history up to Sylvia Plath and Philip Larkin, so it is
fairly comprehensive but also very selective.
It is less than 200 pages in length, not a mighty tome like so many
poetry books seem to have been during my years in education.
The more I delved, the more I realised that
by way of my primary, secondary and university education I had been immersed fairly
well in this aspect of literature. And
that as a teacher of primary, secondary and senior secondary English, I had, in
turn, passed on to my students so much of what I learned about poetry. That is without being fully aware that poetry
was a part of my own literary identity and an important part at that.
Then I recalled something that happened
recently just a couple of hours after the birth of my new granddaughter. Her brother who is just 5 was sitting on the
bed in the birthing suite holding his new little sister. As we talked around the bed, Fry
spontaneously began to sing. What he
sang to the new baby was Mozart’s lullaby, something my mother had sung to me,
something I had sung to Fry’s mother and that she had obviously sung to him. A
small musical poem passed down 4 generations.
The
fact that the human brain more easily remembers words arranged in a musical or
rhythmic manner accounts for nursery rhymes and childish games like ‘Round and
round the garden’ staying with us throughout life. That’s why so many children’s picture books
are written in rhyme, albeit often not very well. We remember these poems and rhythms almost
subconsciously.
My next musing took me to the current
generation. How many of the poems in my
newly discovered treasure trove would today’s children recognise? How many teachers and parents are passing on
these gems? I can recall using ‘modern’
hit parade songs as a source of poetry for my secondary students. Singers like
Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan and Judy Collins and groups such as The Beatles, the
Moody Blues et al were that generation’s poetry and my daughter’s generation
were well served by singers like Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam. But what’s the poetic currency now?
Well, can I recommend Anna Sampson’s book
to teachers, students, parents and anyone else who is familiar with oft spoken
lines such as; ‘Captain, my Captain.’ (Dead Poets’ Society); ‘the darling buds
of May’; ‘Laugh and the world laughs with you’; ‘Water, water everywhere, and
not a drop to drink’; ‘T was the night before Christmas’ and so many more.
This book gives a marvellously accurate
collection of the best known poems in the English language as well as short
informative notes about each poet included.
Sampson has also indexed and catalogued in several different ways so
that locating particular poems is very easy.
The memories evoked by this little book, let alone the vast amount of
information it provides, makes it well worth its tiny price. Every home should have one. And by the way it is one in a series. Check it out.
Carol Fuller
Skink
on the Brink by Lisa Dalrymple and Suzanne del
Rizzo (2013). This Canadian book, combining fiction and factual pages, tells
the story of the skink, endangered in Ontario, though the use of plasticine
illustrations and well-written rhyming text. Though the
skink is anthropomorphised, the whole book works well. As a juvenile his tail
is bright blue but as he matures his colour changes. This allows the reader to see that change is
a normal part of growth. 
Miss
Smith and the Haunted Library by Michael Garland
(2009). This one generated lots of talk. Miss Smith’s class visit the library
where, during a reading of a magical book, by the wonderfully idiosyncratic
librarian, scary literary characters come alive. There’s the Headless Horseman, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Hunchback of Notre
Dame, Captain Hook, and the Wicked Witch of the West. However the as the
reading of the story is finished, the party ends and all the fearsome
characters return to their own worlds. 
Russell the Sheep by Rob Scotton (2005).
This author is one of my favourites because all his illustrations bring a
smile, if not a laugh, and his text also works well. Russell can’t sleep while
all the other sheep do so and he resorts to the usual (and not so usual) ways
of falling asleep. There’s a wealth of detail to look and laugh at. 
A Book by Mordicai Gerstein (2009). It’s
night as the book starts but the family awakens when the reader opens the pages
and we see them around the table discussing their day and their roles in life.
Everyone except the girl knows their story. So she sets off to find her own
reason for being, meeting familiar characters on the way. She decides she is to
be an author and write her own life. There is lots to discuss including the
illustration perspectives and references. 