A poetry book for boys and girls [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION When do boys and girls begin to appreciate poetry? It all depends on what one gives them. If they have the right sort of poetry read to them they begin to love it before they can speak with any fluency—long before they can read. For there are two things in poetry which even the youngest child can appreciate: the music, and a story. And so this book has been divided into two parts: the first part primarily musical or lyrical, the second part primarily narrative. The music of poetry is to be found all through, of course; but the lyrics and the story poems have been kept apart, and the poems in each part have been arranged so as not to clash one with another. But the book is not intended for children in the nursery. It has been compiled to suit the tastes of boys and girls from the time they begin to read poetry to themselves for their own pleasure—which they will do easily if they are encouraged —to about the age of sixteen. After that they will read more widely and deeply, but they will not at any age find this book too childish for them. It is meant, then, to be a companionable book for boys and girls who are poetry-readers, whatever age they may be. On the one hand there are the nonsense poems of Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll, the ballads of Robin Hood, and Sir Patrick Spens, and delicious, childish fancies by Keats, and Stevenson, and Walter de la Mare, and on the other hand great lyrics such as those of Shakespeare and Wordsworth, and great narrative poems such as the 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner'. The youngest readers will find what they like; and they will go on making discoveries till by the time they are fifteen or sixteen they will know and appreciate them all. Now, as boys and girls grow out of childhood, and no longer vii