It is useful for children to keep notebooks or folders in which they can collect and source all their ideas and potential material for poems. Children often ask poets ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’ and John Foster’s own response – a mixture of experience, observation and imagination– has a useful message for children in that they need to be aware that ideas are all around them – in their lives, their memories, what they do, what they read and what they observe in the world around them. And it’s not so much as what you write about, but how you write about it. Anything is potentially good material forwriting! Poetry Activities local newspapers/local radio stations – who may be happy to broadcast recordings done by the school or may invite pupils to record poems/stories in theirstudios Write a class poem – every child writes a line or a verse each, then perform the poem in a long ‘conga’line

The title of this poem tells us what it’s about – specifically, the way aspen trees sway side to side day and night, whatever the weather. Thomas identifies in the trees’ continuous movement a metaphor for human endeavour – like the aspens, we have no choice but to go on. It features the wonderful lines: The poem begins with the speaker stating that he will never see a poem that is more beautiful than a tree. He does not believe that humanity is capable of making something better than what God has made. The following lines are devoted to the type of tree he has in mind. It will have an intimate connection to the earth and its elements. There will be birds nesting in the branches in the summer, and gentle snow on the tree’s “bosom” in the winter. We can all relate to the absolute joy of seeing something amazing for the first time. In this Wordsworth poem, the narrator describes the leap of his heart when he first sees a stunning rainbow. He hopes to feel this same pleasure into adulthood. Ultimately, this is about capturing the beauty of youth while it lasts. 20. “Frost at Midnight” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge MODEL of creative writing – someone who models creative writing and co–creates with the class; acts as scribe for children’s creativity; and shares their own writing and talks about their own creativeprocesses

This takes place on Epiphany, the 12th day of Christmas. Here, Eliot tells the story of the nativity from the unusual perspective of one of three Magi (kings) themselves, emphasising the difficulty of their journey and their feelings of alienation when presented with the birth of Christ – and an entire new faith. In “Birches,” Frost meditates on how tree branches bend and move with the wind, but they don’t easily break. As a child, he would swing from these branches, and he trusted them not to fall. Today, he’s thankful for the support of his favorite birches. 19. “My Heart Leaps Up” by William Wordsworth

Let’s first share some well-known poems about trees and love. You might recognize some of these from your English or History classes, but others might surprise you. For anyone who finds peace in nature, it’s easy to see why love connects to Mother Nature. 1. “The Friendly Tree” by Annette Wynee Poets have written many poems about trees over the past few centuries. There is not a poem as lovely as a tree but some of these poets have come close. Kilmer is most remembered for "Trees", which has been the subject of frequent parodies and references in popular culture. Kilmer's work is often disparaged by critics and dismissed by scholars as being too simple and overly sentimental, and that his style was far too traditional and even archaic. [4] Despite this, the popular appeal of "Trees" has contributed to its endurance. Literary critic Guy Davenport considers it "the one poem known by practically everybody". [5] "Trees" is frequently included in poetry anthologies and has been set to music several times—including a popular rendition by Oscar Rasbach, performed by singers Nelson Eddy, Robert Merrill, and Paul Robeson.Hadas' comments were on the public radio program segment exploring legacy of Kilmer's poem as "one of the most quoted poems in American history" and its many interpretations in "A poem as lovely as a tree" on American Public Media's Weekend America (December 3, 2005), segment producer: Sarah Elzas, editors: Amanda Aronczyk and Jim Gates. Retrieved July 21, 2013. Recording of Oscar Rasbach's setting of "Trees" (from poem by Joyce Kilmer) sung by Ernestine Schumann-Heink, (Matrix B-30950, 1924; Matrix BVE-30950 1926, the latter released on Victor 1198, Gramophone 3-3125, and Gramophone DA-838 1926). Brewer, Alberta, and Brewer, Carson. Valley So Wild. (Knoxville, Tennessee: East Tennessee Historical Society, 1975), 350-351.

The Muppet Show" Season 1, Episode 13 (aired December 4, 1976). The episode featuring guest performer Bruce Forsyth. Rasbach's setting has also been lampooned, most notably in the Our Gang short film "Arbor Day" (1936), directed by Fred C. Newmeyer, in which Alfalfa (played by Carl Switzer), sings the song in a whiny, strained voice after a "woodsman, spare that tree" dialogue with Spanky (George McFarland). Film critic Leonard Maltin has called this "the poem's all-time worst rendition". [57] [58] In his album Caught in the Act, Victor Borge, when playing requests, responds to a member of the audience: "Sorry I don't know that 'Doggie in the Window'. I know one that comes pretty close to it" and proceeds to play the Rasbach setting of "Trees". [59] Here, we start to get an idea about the poet and what he feels about trees. It is in these two lines that the poet has set a sense of contrast between humans and God. Though the poet knows that the poem is not going to be as majestic or beautiful as a tree, he gives it a try to describe it. The tone of Joyce Kilmer’s ‘Trees’ is light-hearted, as the final couplet makes clear: poems are foolish things next to nature, but nature – embodied in the poem by the tree – is superior because it is the work of God. God is mentioned several times in Kilmer’s poem: ‘only God can make a tree’, but earlier, ‘A tree that looks at God all day’. God and Nature are in harmony; poems and poets are trivial things by comparison. The poet tells us that the snow lays on the “bosom” of the tree, and yet it remains unaffected. The tree and rain share an intimate relationship because rain is largely responsible for a tree surviving.Recording of Oscar Rasbach's setting sung by Robert Merrill on "Robert Merrill Songs you Love"(Dutton Vocalion CDVS 1952) Kilmer is considered among the last of the Romantic era poets because his verse is conservative and traditional in style and does not break any of the formal rules of poetics—a style often criticized today for being too sentimental to be taken seriously. [34] The entire corpus of Kilmer's work was produced between 1909 and 1918 when Romanticism and sentimental lyric poetry fell out of favor and Modernism took root—especially with the influence of the Lost Generation. In the years after Kilmer's death, poetry went in drastically different directions, as is seen in the work of T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, and academic criticism grew with it to eschew the more sentimental and straightforward verse. [35] When it comes to upbeat poetry, this one takes the cake. Each line in “Poplar Trees are Happiest” describes a different tree and how it feels. Through the personification of trees, we learn a bit about nature. 18. “Birches” by Robert Frost Kelly, Mike. "Did Mahwah's trees inspire Joyce Kilmer's famous poem?" in The Bergen Record (January 26, 2013). Retrieved June 18, 2013.