Poetry

Twelfth Night “Hey, Ho, The Wind and the Rain”

 in Poetry by

*The Clown, Feste, sings this song at the end of the play. it is a gloomy history of his growth from childhood. The repeated refrain “the rain is raineth everyday,” is a particularly bleak vision of the world, especially of a world that has provided the extraordinarily happy ending of the play. But Feste’s account of the continuous rain is deliberately overstated, designed to make us aware of how much sunshine and delight there is in our lives.

When that I was and a little tiny boy,
    With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
    For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came to man’s estate,
    With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
‘Gainst knaves and thieves men shut the gate,
    For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came, alas! to wive,
    With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
By swaggering could I never thrive,
    For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came unto my beds,
    With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
With toss-pots still had drunken heads,
    For the rain it raineth every day.

A great while ago the world begun,
    With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that’s all one, our play is done,
    And we’ll strive to please you every day.

swaggering – bullying

beds – sickbed

tosspots – drunkards

Act 5, Scene 1, Lines 381-400

From Amazon

*From

Poetry for young people
Willian Shakespeare

The More It Snows/Today I saw a little worm

 in Poetry by

You can find poems in very unlikely places. Did you think that there were poems in Winnie The Pooh? I am sure there are many poems in “Winnie The Pooh”, but here is a quite well known.

THE MORE IT SNOWS

The more it
SNOWS-tiddely-pom
The more it
GOES-tiddely-pom

The more it
GOES-tiddely-pom
On Snowing

And nobody
KNOWS-tiddely-pom
How cold my
TOES-tiddely-pom
How cold my
TOES-tiddely-pom
Are
Growing

A.A Milne 1882-1956

Another personal favorite is short but sweet and completely not related to “Winnie The Pooh”.

TODAY I SAW A LITTLE WORM

Today I saw a little worm
Wriggling on his belly.
Perhaps he’d like to come inside
And see what’s on the Telly.

Spike Milligan 1918-2002

All of these poems are from  BRITAIN”S BEST LOVED Children’s Poems

TERMS TO LEARN
Telly=television
Telly is the British way for saying television.

The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear

 in Loving Language / Poetry by

 

The Owl and the Pussycat
by Edward Lear

The Owl and Pussycat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat:
They took some honey, and plenty of money
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.

The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
“O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!’

Pussy said to the owl, “You elegant fowl,
How charmingly sweet you sing!
Oh! let us be married; too long have we tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?”

They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the bong-tree grows;
And there is a wood a Piggy-wig stood,
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

“Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?” Said the Piggy, “I will.”
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.

They dined on mince and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the idge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

Who Has Seen The Wind? Christina Rossetti

 in Poetry by

Who Has Seen the Wind?

by Christina Georgina Rossetti
(1830-1894)

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you.
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I.
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.

84-FallingAutumnLeaves

Autumn is a beautiful time of year because of the leaves. The leaves fall and gracefully make their way down. My mother says “The leaves dance, and when they catch the wind, they come twirling and swirling down.” So sitting in my reading chair reading and thinking up new ideas for my blog, I watch the leaves dance and swirl and think, ‘My dad has to clean this up.’