Comments on: Can Children’s Poetry Matter?

By: “Can Children’s Poetry Matter?” by J. Patrick Lewis | Poetry at Play

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:35:09 +0000

[...] J. Patrick Lewis shared a succinct and powerful statement about children’s poetry titled “Can Children’s Poetry Matter?” in the Vermont College of Fine Arts journal, Hunger Mountain. It’s well worth reading. Poetry [...]

By: Chrissie Gittins

Chrissie Gittins — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:01:55 +0000

Great essay, Pat. Glad it’s available widely through the internet. It’s a boost for those of us who go into schools to encourage the reading and writing of poetry. Thank you.
Chrissie Gittins

By: Arn McCallum

Arn McCallum — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 21:43:07 +0000

Thanks Pat for your essay on poetry and kids. It was very informative and honest.
I write poetry for children and have
4 anthologies published here in Canada.
I also have several teachers actually teaching reading using Poetry. I present in Classrooms and libraries with my own poems and I now teach beginning readers with “RAP”. We memorize short “Rap” pieces and then we can read them to our parents. [even K.P. kids can do
it"]. They all say Reading is easy. They walk away believing in themselves and that is 90% of the battle. Stay the course.
You Shine Pal,
Arnot, A.K.A. 60 CENT

By: Patricia Hubbell

Patricia Hubbell — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 11:27:36 +0000

Hello, Pat,
Thank you for this wonderful article! I’m especially glad that you talked about the importance of being introduced to poetry early by teachers and parents. Without the warm experience of having had my mother and grandmother read poetry to me when I was little, I doubt if I would have become a lover of poetry and a writer of poems myself. And I’ll bet that goes for many other poets, too.
Patricia Hubbell

By: Jimmie

Jimmie — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 13:21:29 +0000

“Children rarely gravitate to poetry on their own. It’s an acquired taste. They must be introduced to it early and often by their teachers and parents, the critical influences in their lives.”

Yes, yes, and yes! We usually read a poem each day. Just for fun — very little analysis although we do that at times. Thankfully this approach has instilled a love of poetry and poetic language into my daughter’s little heart.

By: Jeannine Atkins

Jeannine Atkins — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:48:24 +0000

Thank you for the inspiring essay. And I was happy to meet a teacher this week, too, who passionately told me how poetry covers everything they’re expected to cover in their language arts curriculum.

By: Mary Cronin

Mary Cronin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:39:16 +0000

I could not have found your essay at a better time; I’m currently teaching a course for preschool teachers about using poetry in the early childhood classroom. Bravo!