✨💫 Perfect Poetry 💫✨

There’s something very soothing about hearing and reading well-written poetry, so I was thrilled to be asked to hold a poetry assembly at Easton Royal Academy in Easton Royal, near Pewsey in Wiltshire. I’m very fortunate to be this charming village school’s Associate Author and it’s my second year in this post, so I know the school quite well.

Now poetry is a rather vast topic, with numerous different types of poetry from acrostic poems to limericks, odes, riddles and sonnets, to name just a few. How on Earth was I going to narrow down this gigantic subject, into a 20 minute assembly? Well, the school’s current topic is ‘Into The Woods’, so I decided to read different types of woodland-related poetry to the children. This is also tied in well with my own ‘Whimsy Wood’ children’s books. The date of this requested assembly was yesterday, which happened to officially be the first day of Autumn. “A Ha!” I thought cunningly to myself! I shall also use this wonderfully colourful season as subject material for my assembly!

So, without further ado, here are a few of the poems I read to the delightful children at Easton Royal Academy yesterday :-

🍁🍂 An Autumn Greeting by George Cooper 🍂🍁

“Come,” said the Wind to the Leaves one day.
“Come over the meadow and we will play.
Put on your dresses of red and gold.
For summer is gone and the days grow cold.”

✨🍄 A Fairy In Armour by Joseph Rodman Drake 🍄✨

He put his acorn helmet on;
It was plumed of the silk of the thistle down;
The corslet plate that guarded his breast
Was once the wild bee’s golden vest;
His cloak, of a thousand mingled dyes,
Was formed of the wings of butterflies;
His shield was the shell of a lady-bug green,
Studs of gold on a ground of green;
And the quivering lance which he brandished bright,
Was the sting of a wasp he had slain in fight.

Now in my mind, no poetry reading is complete without a nonsense poem of some description! So here’s the fabulous poem, that I ended my poetry assembly to Easton Royal Academy yesterday :-

🐞🐝🐛 The Triantiwontigongolope by C.J.Dennis 🐛🐝🐞

There’s a very funny insect that you do not often spy,
And it isn’t quite a spider, and it isn’t quite a fly;
It is something like a beetle, and a little like a bee,
But nothing like a wooly grub that climbs upon a tree.
Its name is quite a hard one, but you’ll learn it soon, I hope.
So try:
Tri-
Tri-anti-wonti-
Triantiwontigongolope.
It lives on weeds and wattle-gum, and has a funny face;
Its appetite is hearty, and its manners a disgrace.
When first you come upon it, it will give you quite a scare,
But when you look for it again, you find it isn’t there.
And unless you call it softly it will stay away and mope.
So try:
Tri-
Tri-anti-wonti-
Triantiwontigongolope.
It trembles if you tickle it or tread upon its toes;
It is not an early riser, but it has a snubbish nose.
If you snear at it, or scold it, it will scuttle off in shame,
But it purrs and purrs quite proudly if you call it by its name,
And offer it some sandwiches of sealing-wax and soap.
So try:
Tri-
Tri-anti-wonti-
Triantiwontigongolope .
But of course you haven’t seen it; and I truthfully confess
That I haven’t seen it either, and I don’t know its address.
For there isn’t such an insect, though there really might have been
If the trees and grass were purple, and the sky was bottle green.
It’s just a little joke of mine, which you’ll forgive, I hope.
Oh, try!
Tri-
Tri-anti-wonti-
Triantiwontigongolope.

So, there you have it! Some perfect poetry for you today. 😃 The only thing I have left to share with you on this autumnal day, is that we have our second ‘Whimsy Wood’ competition up and running, to celebrate yesterday’s first day of Autumn. 😉 This is to win signed copies of book 2, ‘Posie Pixie And The Lost Matchbox’, from my ‘Whimsy Wood’ children’s series. To be in with a chance of winning, simply click on the link below, which will take you to our ‘Whimsy Wood’ Facebook page. There, you’ll find details of this cracking competition! Good luck! 😃

‘Posie Pixie And The Lost Matchbox’, book 2 in my ‘Whimsy Wood’ series 😊

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Whimsy-Wood-Series/476339045765043?ref=hl

Sarah Hill, children’s author and creator of The Whimsy Wood Series