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what's the first poem yoou remember as a child...

butters

butters

High on a Hill
Joined
Jul 2, 2009
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81,481
..and would you say it was influential in any way on how you appreciated the sound and rhythms of words ever after?

for me, with great fondness, it was The Night Before Christmas. a younger neighbour friend of mine had the book (i was about 8 maybe, she was 6), and i'd read it out to her - it wasn't at all long, though, before i was simply reciting it from memory as i looked at the illustrations. i think its steady pacing, the pictures it conjured, helped my ear for poetry and gave me a real pleasure for it.
 
The Owl and the Pussycat--sadly unreadable now for new generations of children due to the "dirty words."
 
Something by Langston Hughes.

Something about stairs...
 
Well, apart from "Twinkle, twinkle little star" in Greek, which is supposed to be probably the oldest surviving song of all Indo-Europeans, I remember as a four year old toddler playing on my toy guitar the following song. My mother says that I had memorized all the lyrics and the melody. I think both songs have influenced me quite heavily in the whole of my creative life.

BLOOD THIRSTY
(free translation)

You always call me "blood thirsty"
because I'm laughing when you cry,
I tell you what happens:
Crying makes you beautiful.

Chorus
How beautiful you are when you cry,
tear drops come slowly down like diamonds,
my love, how beautifully you cry!
Cry a little more as it becomes you.

Again I observed you yesterday,
at the moment you started crying,
and you were, my sunshine,
the most beautiful woman in the world.

Chorus (the same)

Don’t call me again "blood thirsty"
and if you want to find the truth,
look your self in the mirror,
it shouldn't make a liar out of me.

Chorus (the same)
 
butters said:
..and would you say it was influential in any way on how you appreciated the sound and rhythms of words ever after?

for me, with great fondness, it was The Night Before Christmas. a younger neighbour friend of mine had the book (i was about 8 maybe, she was 6), and i'd read it out to her - it wasn't at all long, though, before i was simply reciting it from memory as i looked at the illustrations. i think its steady pacing, the pictures it conjured, helped my ear for poetry and gave me a real pleasure for it.
Click to expand...

I would say it would prolly be this a poem my dad had read to me and which I, in turn, taped a rendition of for a cassette we sent him of various things so he could hear us when off duty while on a Med-cruise when I was in grade school.

I can still recite it (mostly) without much trouble.
 
playcatch said:
The Owl and the Pussycat--sadly unreadable now for new generations of children due to the "dirty words."
Click to expand...
it's still a staple in our kids' schools, at an early age so perhaps that precludes the whole 'pussy' thing. i'm pretty sure if it were introduced to 8 year olds and above there might be sniggers.

did you feel it had any impact on your appreciation of/interest in poetry?

Kitty92 said:
Something by Langston Hughes.

Something about stairs...
Click to expand...
same question - was it influential in your enjoyment of poetry?

pelegrino said:
Well, apart from "Twinkle, twinkle little star" in Greek, which is supposed to be probably the oldest surviving song of all Indo-Europeans, I remember as a four year old toddler playing on my toy guitar the following song. My mother says that I had memorized all the lyrics and the melody. I think both songs have influenced me quite heavily in the whole of my creative life.

BLOOD THIRSTY
(free translation)

You always call me "blood thirsty"
because I'm laughing when you cry,
I tell you what happens:
Crying makes you beautiful.

Chorus
How beautiful you are when you cry,
tear drops come slowly down like diamonds,
my love, how beautifully you cry!
Cry a little more as it becomes you.

Again I observed you yesterday,
at the moment you started crying,
and you were, my sunshine,
the most beautiful woman in the world.

Chorus (the same)

Don’t call me again "blood thirsty"
and if you want to find the truth,
look your self in the mirror,
it shouldn't make a liar out of me.

Chorus (the same)
Click to expand...
twinkle twinkle in greek? did it predate the early 1700's? interesting wiki about its origins

as for your piece remembered from being 4 years old, it's very tragic! quite dark, even. what a strange piece for a child to become attached to. :rose:
Remec said:
I would say it would prolly be this a poem my dad had read to me and which I, in turn, taped a rendition of for a cassette we sent him of various things so he could hear us when off duty while on a Med-cruise when I was in grade school.

I can still recite it (mostly) without much trouble.
Click to expand...
frogs for dogs! yes, i can see its appeal to a child, the visual impact it might have. and yeah, i'll push you, too, for an answer to the second half of my original question, ifn you please, remec :rose:
 
butters said:
frogs for dogs! yes, i can see its appeal to a child, the visual impact it might have. and yeah, i'll push you, too, for an answer to the second half of my original question, ifn you please, remec :rose:
Click to expand...

I would say that it prolly did. I know a number of the poems I chose to memorize for various school assignments through the years shared a similar melodic characteristic with the poem cited. They seemed to more easily lend themselves to being spoken aloud, one of the factors I try to keep in mind when writing.

The first time I heard it, however, the speaker was British and I still both "hear" and, usually, recite it with a touch of an accent. :rolleyes:
 
Poe's, The Raven.

My mom loved it and read to me all the time. and she was a wonderful poet herself.

Ihope everyone is doing well. I miss you all.

:)
 
butters said:
..and would you say it was influential in any way on how you appreciated the sound and rhythms of words ever after?

for me, with great fondness, it was The Night Before Christmas. a younger neighbour friend of mine had the book (i was about 8 maybe, she was 6), and i'd read it out to her - it wasn't at all long, though, before i was simply reciting it from memory as i looked at the illustrations. i think its steady pacing, the pictures it conjured, helped my ear for poetry and gave me a real pleasure for it.
Click to expand...

wwwait. "butters" means butt ugly in UK. But you have an amazing eye. Are you being satirical?

:cattail:
 
And Langston Hughes is like Maya Angelou in the poetry world; reflecting on culture and things. So it didn't help me with my liking for poetry, but it definitely matured my tastes.
 
Remec said:
I would say that it prolly did. I know a number of the poems I chose to memorize for various school assignments through the years shared a similar melodic characteristic with the poem cited. They seemed to more easily lend themselves to being spoken aloud, one of the factors I try to keep in mind when writing.

The first time I heard it, however, the speaker was British and I still both "hear" and, usually, recite it with a touch of an accent. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
thanks for the extra info :) yeah, i believe we get imprinted by so many things as children that we only start to understand as adults.

Maria2394 said:
Poe's, The Raven.

My mom loved it and read to me all the time. and she was a wonderful poet herself.

Ihope everyone is doing well. I miss you all.

:)
Click to expand...
good to see you posting, maria :) and whilst that poem seems as heavy as pelegrino's earliest, i can see how the rhythms and sounds in it, as well as the dark foreboding, can influence a writer.

Kitty92 said:
wwwait. "butters" means butt ugly in UK. But you have an amazing eye. Are you being satirical?

:cattail:
Click to expand...
i was chipbutty, got laurel to shorten it to butters. an eye is an eye is an eye and beauty's all about the beholder. it was just a bit of fun using all the connotations including south park :D

Kitty92 said:
And Langston Hughes is like Maya Angelou in the poetry world; reflecting on culture and things. So it didn't help me with my liking for poetry, but it definitely matured my tastes.
Click to expand...
ah, thankyou too for expanding on your initial reply. guess i wasn't exposed to poetry nearly as much as a child as might have been good for me :) i was mostly reading the classics, adventure stories, enid blytons and c.s.lewis, the rare poetry i came across was mostly in those - such as the pieces scattered throughout lord of the rings.
 
m2hzTyvbuCFF9x3oeKwNB2A.jpg

I can't remember the poems but this was my first poetry book. I remember staring at the images before I could read and begin so excited when I could read the words myself.
 
Yunie said:
Jack and Jill went up the hill....
Click to expand...
ooh, forgot about that one - guess i saw it as more a sing-songy thing but it's a poem to instil sound, movement and pacing. nice one. :)

Misshotndeep said:
m2hzTyvbuCFF9x3oeKwNB2A.jpg

I can't remember the poems but this was my first poetry book. I remember staring at the images before I could read and begin so excited when I could read the words myself.
Click to expand...

that's a wonderful memory you have right there. from the second half of your post can i take it you became an avid reader as a child? words can bring such rewards :rose:

ooh, did anyone read the flower fairies poetry book by cicely mary barker? it got deep into me, that one... my love of nature, imagery... it was a collection of books i got out from the library many times over the years in infants/junior school (so 5-11) and it was probably the art i was more interested in though really enjoyed the poems.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=f...HYbYPKzagbgF&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1215&bih=710
 
butters said:
ooh, forgot about that one - guess i saw it as more a sing-songy thing but it's a poem to instil sound, movement and pacing. nice one. :)



that's a wonderful memory you have right there. from the second half of your post can i take it you became an avid reader as a child? words can bring such rewards :rose:

ooh, did anyone read the flower fairies poetry book by cicely mary barker? it got deep into me, that one... my love of nature, imagery... it was a collection of books i got out from the library many times over the years in infants/junior school (so 5-11) and it was probably the art i was more interested in though really enjoyed the poems.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=f...HYbYPKzagbgF&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1215&bih=710
Click to expand...

I spent so much time at my local library that I was invited to the older librarians retirement parties! lol Lovely ladies.
 
Misshotndeep said:
I spent so much time at my local library that I was invited to the older librarians retirement parties! lol Lovely ladies.
Click to expand...

awesome :D

libraries used to be such cool places. there was one of those huge globes on a stand - must've been a good 3 feet diameter, maybe bigger, but it seemed enormous to a child. the exotic sounds of the name places, the fascinating coast-lines, that whole looking-down-on-planet-earth thing. fabulous. no-one told us we couldn't explore it or run our hands over the continents and oceans, discovering words that felt so rich and full of wonder. *sigh* nowadays they go for a fortune and most kids aren't so lucky to have that experience.
 
butters said:
awesome :D

libraries used to be such cool places. there was one of those huge globes on a stand - must've been a good 3 feet diameter, maybe bigger, but it seemed enormous to a child. the exotic sounds of the name places, the fascinating coast-lines, that whole looking-down-on-planet-earth thing. fabulous. no-one told us we couldn't explore it or run our hands over the continents and oceans, discovering words that felt so rich and full of wonder. *sigh* nowadays they go for a fortune and most kids aren't so lucky to have that experience.
Click to expand...

I think libraries have forgotten the mystery they can hold and just become institutionalized computer centers. They forgot about the wonder they can instill in a child's eye and go for the flashy to draw in people. More tech and less books. It's sad to see it happening. Where I live we have a few libraries that hold dear to the idea of transporting you to a time past, but most are very bland in construction and deign. They are not comfy places to hang out or read. They lack art that might inspire the masses and are more concerned with keeping their funding though satisfying the masses than providing knowledge or exposure to multitude of cultures and thoughts of our wonderful world. In my opinion anyway.
 
butters said:
ooh, forgot about that one - guess i saw it as more a sing-songy thing but it's a poem to instil sound, movement and pacing. nice one. :)
Click to expand...

I answered your question based on the thought of individualized poems that had made an impression that lasted. I did not, however, think about all the other sources of verse that, undoubtedly, cast themselves upon my developing sense of language, rhythm, verbal musicality, and even--to a large extent--burgeoning taste in literature and the arts.

I had Mother Goose rhymes, Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll...I even can recall checking out "A Child's Garden of Verses" more than once from the library. Even such things as playing hopscotch, pat-a-cake games, or jumping rope with the neighborhood kids prolly had their part on shaping my poetical background.

:cool:
 
A birdy with a yellow bill
Hopped upon the window sill
Cocked his shiny eye and said
Wake up, wake up you sleepy head

I am of the opinion that nearly all young children's books are just illustrated poems.
There are many poets disguised as children's authors. I'd love to see some more grown up poetry transformed into illustrated books. What a feast for the soul that'd be.
 
Trixareforkids said:
A birdy with a yellow bill
Hopped upon the window sill
Cocked his shiny eye and said
Wake up, wake up you sleepy head

I am of the opinion that nearly all young children's books are just illustrated poems.
There are many poets disguised as children's authors. I'd love to see some more grown up poetry transformed into illustrated books. What a feast for the soul that'd be.
Click to expand...
i think you'll find examples out there, trix - i googled 'illustrated poetry books for adults' and there were a lot of results

here's one suggesting 10 books: http://jaktraks.hubpages.com/hub/poetrygiftbooks

it has a rumi!
The Illuminated Rumi - The illustrations are amazing

Poetry by Rumi / Artwork by Michael Green


The Illuminated Rumi is a truly groundbreaking collaboration that interweaves word and image: a magnificent meeting of ancient tradition and modern interpretation that uniquely captures the spiritual wealth of Rumi's teachings. Coleman Barks's wise and witty commentary, together with Michael Green's art, makes this a classic guide to the life of the soul for a whole new generation of seekers.

EXCERPT from a Rumi poem:

Love has taken away my practices

and filled me with poetry.

I tried to keep quietly repeating,

No strength but yours

but I couldn't.

I had to clap and sing . . .
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
As a child? I can't honestly say what was the first, but I can honestly say that none of it influenced me.

And while I can remember in my late teens being inspired by innumerable 80's heavy metal bands to take a few stabs at writing song lyrics, the results were god awful and I immediately gave up on it.

There wasn't any poetry in my household. It wasn't taught in the public schools I went to. It really did not exist for me until I was about 30.

My mind from childhood was always fixated on becoming a prose writer until I realized it wasn't meant to be. Ideas came to me naturally, but I just couldn't tell a lengthy story without it going completely off the rails.

So, that's when I began to use poetry as an exercise in honing my storytelling skills. First, learn how to get the completed story idea down on paper. Second, reinforce it with associations that help the reader experience it in greater dimension. Nowadays, it is more of a simultaneous process.

So, as an adult? Again, I can't really say anything specific.

I didn't start reading poetry. I just started writing it. I am self taught with decades of influence by music and song lyrics, which explains why my writing tends to lean heavily in those directions.
 
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