Children’s Classic Poetry, Arranged by Michael O’Mara Books Limited

This anthology incorporates several children’s poems about different topics including animals, weather, magic, love, emotions, and people. Each of the poems varies in length since some are a few lines and others span pages. Since this book is classic literature, some of the words or concepts in the poems are archaic, and this may cause confusion for some students. For example, in “La Belle Dame Sans Merci,” John Keats uses words such as “grot,” “sedge,” and “thrall” (pages 44-46). However, most grade school children have had no exposure to these words, so the teacher would need to go over this new vocabulary with them or have them decipher the words using context clues. One of my favorite poems from the anthology is “O Captain! My Captain!” by Walt Whitman (pages 76-77). This poem describes the captain of a ship that has died after battle. The speaker in the poem is the son of the Captain who has sailed with his father and the crew but now grieves his father while their enemies celebrate their victory. Furthermore, this anthology is beautifully illustrated by Robin Lawrie. Each illustration adds to the poem by demonstrating inferences and going deeper into the meaning of the text.

            Due to the nature of classic poetry, this anthology would best suit fourth or fifth-grade students. This book would be fantastic to use when studying poetry in these grades. Some of the poems rhyme and some do not. Some have an obvious rhythm, and others are more free verse. Additionally, some of the poems would be useful when studying different cultures in social studies. For example, “The Lion and the Unicorn” is about a power struggle within the United Kingdom, as demonstrated by the crest in the illustration. “A Cornish Charm” reflects the fear and superstition accompanied by a plea to the Lord that these people had at the time. It would be interesting to have the students examine various poems to derive the values and emotions of the culture and its people. Then, the students could write a poem about another part of history they have studied. As mentioned earlier, the book incorporates many antiquated words. This would allow the students to practice using context clues to figure out the meaning of the unknown words. After they make their guesses about the word, I would tell them what the word means so they will know the accuracy of their guess. I would most likely keep this book in the class library and then use specific poems as needed in the lessons. This way, the students are free to explore this collection of classic poetry.