Sneaky, sneaky. My kiddos aren’t even in kindergarten, yet, but I think I might try this. It’ll be a good exercise for me, at least!

Ah, as a teenager, I hate having my bedroom door open. Actually, I always hated it (which is why the ultimate grounding for me when I was six years old was my dad removing my door for a month). But my parents, being parents, have odd days when they just HAVE TO, for unknown reasons, INSIST that it stay open. So to help me deal with that, when I was about nine, maybe ten, I tacked a picture of Mary up on my door, on the outside, so I can only see it when it is open. That way, when mom insists that I need to keep it open, I can growl and sigh for a moment, then stop and calm down when I open it up and see the picture of my Heavenly Mom looking sorrofully off to the side. It makes me feel like she looked away because she didn’t like seeing me growl, and makes me want to behave a little better. I also feel guilty because one of my first thoughts when I notice the picture is usually a prayer to the Blessed Virgin starting with “Oh, hello. I haven’t thought of you yet today.” And it makes me wonder if my mom insists on having the door open just so that I will. Stealth faith formation.

My kids are 4, 2, and 6mths.  We have been reading poetry via song and rhyme at lunch and breakfast.  We keep the poetry books next to the table so that they can pick one out near the end of our meal.  It’s always a joyful time and never forced.  I read about 2-4, short or long, poems and then we are excused.  Most of the time they want more but I have committed myself to stopping at a few to keep the interest alive.  We play rhyming games a lot too and “finish the poem”.  It’s fun.  They have several memorized and it becomes apart of our dialogue.  (someone said that if kids can learn silly pre-k songs they can learn good short songs and poems).

I would like to actually have some of the poems written on stones outside in our gardens and yard.  I think I’m going to decoupage, similar to your idea of posting them around the house, having them around where they play and work.  (For me too…)

BTW - one of my friends would read to her little boy while he was bathing, starting at 1yr or so.  At about 1.5-2yrs he started requesting them!  Now that we have 3 I don’t know if we can do that but maybe we’ll still give it a shot!  Might prevent bath time kayos!

All of my kids quote Shakespeare all the time and only recently have begun to realize it.    There’s a Shakespearean quote appropriate for all of life’s big moments and I’ve rarely missed the opportunity to throw one out there.    It’s definitely rubbed off on them.  For instance, now when one of my little kids says something especially bratty, one of my big kids will inevitably beat me to the punch with “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!”  Sure, they’re poking a little fun at me when they say it, but I know they’ve got the Bard coursing through their veins.

Anne Bradstreet! Anne Bradstreet! Anne Bradstreet!

Great tactic. Also check out “A Child’s Garden of Poetry” DVD if you get a chance. It’s lovely.

Edna St. Vincent Millay, “Recuerdo”
Emily Dickinson, “Hope is the Thing with Feathers”, “A Bird Came Down the Walk”
William Carlos Williams, “The Red Wheelbarrow”, “Danse Russe”
selections from T.S. Eliot’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats”
John Keats, “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer”

and so many more…

Eileen: that is impressive! Need to work on my Shakespeare so I can ferment my kids in it. :)

Simcha: You would love “The Peace of Wild Things” by Wendell Berry. I read it when I’m stressed.

Yeats!

When I was a college student 25+ years ago, I apparently possessed the unlimited time and energy required to copy poems out by hand and hang them on my bedroom walls.  I can barely write a check now without my hand cramping up.  Anywhoo, the one I still remember is The Lake Isle of Innisfree by Yeats.  It’s wonderful.

We need to get back in the habit of reading and memorizing poetry.

One of my daughters (age 7) occasionally asks me to read her “that long poem about the sailor that tries to talk to people at the wedding.”

I love this idea!!! Definitely one to remember for when I have kids who can read, and in the meantime, I’ll be reading poems to my baby in utero. It’s never too early to start!

What a great idea! Before coming back into The Church a year and a half ago, I had always put up scripture verses all over the house since the kids were little (“strewing scripture” as many evangelicals call it). How I wish I would have thought of poetry!
Thankfully, my oldest son, who is at Thomas More College in NH, has challenged his “baby” (17yo) sister to learn some poems as part of her senior year. She has Tarentella by Belloc memorized as well as Frost’s Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening. She is now working on Eldorado by Poe. It has been so fun to see them iChat and have her recite the poems for him.
I think we are going to use some of your ideas and start “strewing some poetry” around our house. No matter how old the kids are, it’s never too late to add a little stealthy culture into their lives!!

I’ve posted famous quotes around the house before, and small (postcard-sized) copies of famous paintings. I think this is brilliant, and am unashamedly ripping off your excellent list!

@Suburbancorrespondant - We’ve also got some Yeats hanging on our walls.  I bought a few prints from Cuala Press and had them framed.  One print, which is only a quote, hangs in our main floor bathroom, which means it’s seen by everybody.  And everybody who’s ever met my mother knows that particular wall hanging is aimed right at her.    Except my mom who thinks it’s an odd quote and even odder that we’d put it in our bathroom.  The money quote: “Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.”    I’ll never forget when one of my sisters saw it for the first time we were just sitting down at the table to eat an extended family dinner and she had the uncontrollable giggles throughout the entire meal.

I love this idea!  My 15 month old loves being read to, but he insists on holding the book and turning the pages at his own pace—I’m sure he’d be just as happy (and thank me later) if I started reciting poems to him instead of only reading half the words on each page for a completely disjointed children’s story :)

In a similar vein, during our “T.V.-Free Time” I switch the television over the the classical music channel on our cable television.  It’s provides a nice background for schoolwork, without distracting lyrics.  And occasionally they will recognize a piece from cartoons and pop culture.

Years and years ago, a teacher of mine quoted a Russian short story:  “You smoked your last cigarette yesterday.”  That line, “It was evening all afternoon,” reminded me of, “You smoked your last cigarette yesterday.”  When I was a kid, my dad read to us the Yukon poems of Robert Service.—and other stuff.  The poem, Mock On, Mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau, has appeared, disappeared, been searched for, and reappeared in my life since the 1990’s.  “If the sky falls, mark my words:  we’ll catch mockingbirds.”—Tom Waits.  There is a poem by E. A. Poe that I think should be much more well known than it is called Ulalume.

I guess you could say I’m the product of a stealth mother who did the same, ha ha, only she favored lining the walls with the kitchy sayings that can be found on plaques and pictures in Christian book stores.  They did indeed get drilled into my head.  After reading this I’m a bit self conscious about my blatant and lazy disregard for punctuation and grammar rules…:-( I’m really grateful for your list, and the recommendations of others as well (Eileen,I love it! please post some more of those great quotes!) I’m energized to refresh some walls today!

LOVE this idea!  I don’t have kids, but I hope to be a teacher someday (and a mother, God-willing), and this is a great idea!

Love it, Simcha!  My 9=y=o was determined to memorize Hiawatha’s Childhood, which is part of a chapter of the Song of Hiawatha by Longfellow.  I admit that I doubted she would stick to it, but by golly, she’s got it down and we ask her to recite it all the time!  Extended family members who see us only a couple times a year request that she recite it.  She and I have read aloud together the entire Song of Hiawatha and will never forget that time together and the beauty it opened up for us. 

I love the idea of posting poems around the house.  We do post prayers for the church seasons on the bathroom mirrors (can be said while we brush!).  Otherwise, we have kid artwork in amongst the icons.  Yes, we are one of those houses that look like a monastery with kids.  But I don’t care a bit.  We love it and that’s what counts.  And we love our bright yellow kitchen and warm orange living room….okay the orange was a bit of a mistake but hey, it’s just a living room!

Thanks for continuing to point us in the direction of searching for beauty in our every day.

I read only scholarly books in order to maintain my vocabulary.

I love this idea for scripture.  I’m not much of a poetry fan.  I still like your stealth approach though, very impressive!

But where is the Shel Silverstein? I thought children could only like poems written “for their level” with accompanying creepy drawings?

@Colet:  He had his moments! I always liked this one: 

.

My beard grows to my toes,
I never wears no clothes,
I wraps my hair
Around my bare,
And down the road I goes.

.

But don’t get me started on _The Giving Tree._

Kids love anything that talks about being nekkid.  Yup. That’s one way to get their attention.

Well, I like this Silverstein:
The meanest girl I ever met
Was Mary Ellen Wright
And if a lion came along
And ate her in one bite
I’d cry and cry and cy and cry
(but just to be polite)

Manners are important, after all :)

No, don’t get ME started on “The Giving Tree.”  A creepier story was never written…

I noticed that no mentioned the Catholic writer Hilaire Belloc and his Cautionary Tales for Children, with poems with titles such as, “Jim: Who ran away from his Nurse, and was eaten by a Lion.” and “Matilda: Who told Lies, and was Burned to Death.”  I haven’t read it myself, but it is free on the net and people looking for children’s verse might have interest.

A great suggestion.  It is when we are told, “Memorize this!” that suddenly, all the fun is lost.  I remember my fondest memory of poetry were those poems that I found as a child, randomly opening books around the house.  Your idea gives me the thought that we should not only post poetry, but beautiful works of art should be put up in rotation around the house.  I will definitely be posting some poetry this week!  Thanks

Thank you so much. When I was teaching I used to includ poetry as part of literature for 6th graders. When given a choice, the boys always picked the shortest poem to learn and recite. After listening to 4 or 5 boys recite “A bird came down the walk,” the next boy stood up and started, “A cat came down the walk.” That was the end of that recitation for the day-we all cracked up. From then on they had to have my approval before they learned a poem. Girls—no problem ever. In trying to find fairy tales and books of poetry for my grandsons, 5 and 6, it seems Disney has taken over and dumbed down everything printed and on DVD. Very troubling. Oh for the old books we had when children (1940’s). Perhaps I should look on eBay?

What an utterly fabulous idea!  I give my middle school students a poem every Monday, but I’m not always sure what do besides have them read it and talk about it.  What I really want to get across as the idea that poetry is *pleasure.*

Oh, this is just exactly the kind of tip I love! When I want to do poetry, they moan and groan; and then they catch me unprepared, wanting me to read the “poems in the box” that were meant to be memorized.

Taking some of your suggestions and going to find some pretty paper…

I stuck a page of Shakespearian insults up on the fridge, years ago.  It’s called “The Bard’s Barbs” and it’s totally brilliant.  There are 3 columns, and the object is to string an insult together using one word from each column.  I told my kids that if they insisted on calling each other names, they had to be names off of this list.  You can’t imagine the looks we get when they rattle off things like, “You mewling, bat-fowling giglet!  Give me back my playmobil knight!”  Etc.  Not that I encourage name-calling, but kids will do it, and at least this is a (relatively) educational solution to the problem.

As for poetry, my daughter (for years a most reluctant reader) prefers poetry for its brevity and poignancy.  Poetry sucked her in to a wider world of reading.  Hurray for that!

Love this article, Simcha. 
.
Now, I will attempt to “get you started” on the Giving Tree.  I’ve had suspicious feelings toward it since my kids received it as a gift from Grandma, but I can’t quite put my finger on why it disturbs me so.  If you’re willing to go there, I would love to hear your thoughts!

The story of the Giving Tree isn’t nearly so creepy as Shel Silverstein’s picture on the back cover of that book.  That picture is a running joke in our house.  I have to admit, though, that we do enjoy quite a few of Shel’s poems.

I love this! We try to memorize poetry but it can be tedious…this is a great stealth approach! Sea fever is another great poem, The West Wind, Margaret are you grieving over golden grove unleaving, and the vagabond, Break, break break on the cold grey stones oh sea…and so many others.

My husband offered to buy the kids a Wii if they memorized 50 poems (combined, not per child).  He had a couple of required poems but let them pick the rest, with guidelines about minimum length and style.  It took a couple of months, but they did it.

Thank you, extremely, for the introduction to Richard Wilbur. The others were all familiar, but my education was somehow deficient on Wilbur. Based on the specimens you offered I jumped on Amazon and ordered his collected poems. “Still, Citizen Sparrow” instantly delighted me. Thanks again.

Delighted to hear it, Mark!  I did my Junior Project in college on Wilbur, and still love him.

A teacher once told me you can recite any Emily Dickinson poem to the tune of “Yellow Star of Texas.”  It made it very difficult to read her poems.  Anything Hopkins is nice, and absolutely get some Shakespeare in there (a sonnet or two, famous soliloquies such as “I know a bank where the wild thyme blows” from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”).  When they get older, you could pair it with taking them to see the plays, or checking out DVDs from the library of performances.  Shakespeare’s plays don’t really make sense until you see them performed.  Or, since you have a small theater troupe in your own home, maybe they could perform scenes together!  (I have no children yet, so this is more than likely blissful ignorance talking.)

Christina Rosetti has some nice poems that might be useful (you are probably already familiar with her “In the Bleak Midwinter”).  T.S. Eliot is great.  There are a couple of long ones from which you could cut out a passage, and that might inspire them to go and read the longer poem (such as “The Lady of the Lake” by Sir Walter Scott).  Longfellow’s “The Song of Hiawatha” has a lot of fun sounds in it.  Wallace Stevens has another nice, simple poem in “Anecdote of a Jar.”  There are so many more good ones out there!  It might be nice just to have a couple of collections of great poetry on-hand, to introduce them to the writers in small doses (you could probably buy a decent used copy at a library book sale).

Alex Mundii, great idea with the Wii for poems ploy!  On its own it won’t make you wise, but one of the greatest ways to exercise your mind is to memorize things, preferably the classics.

I’ve had a few Giving Tree” moments, and then I went to confession.  Sometimes it just makes awful sense.

Oh, but here’s one for your list! ‘The Man From Snowy River’ by Banjo Patterson. It’s an Australian classic, pretty long though. One of my life goals is to memorize that poem.

i have to say—you are awesome for posting EPISTEMOLOGY!  I love you!  [As a friend, as a friend; I am happily married]....anyway, I had to post it somewhere else, it was so awesome.  THANK YOU!!!  Please post more good stuff like that now and then.  P.S you DO know the story about Dr. Johnson to which the poem refers, yes?  Please say yes…thank you again…

@yan:  Oh no, pop quiz!  Okay, Berkeley said that the material world only exists in our perception of it, or something?  Like a tree falling in the woods, and nobody hears it?  So Samuel Johnson said, “This I refute thee!” and kicked a rock, and promptly and painfully broke his foot.  Ha ha!  Which of course didn’t refute anything, but still.  I’ve broken my foot, and it is hard to argue with that.

SF: you got it! Dr. SJ was famously eloquent!  And had steel-tipped boots, i understand…

You should look up poems by Odgen Nash.  He did some quite funny ones.

I put a poem by A.E. Housman on my wall once, something about a happy highway where I went, oh into my heart on air that kills, from yon far country blows…
I hate the Giving Tree