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DOVER CHILDREN’S THRIFT CLASSICS
EDITOR: PHILIP SMITH
Copyright © 1992 by Dover Publications, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Favorite Poems of Childhood is a new anthology of previously published children’s verse, first published by Dover Publications, Inc., in 1992.
The poem “Barbershop” originally appeared in Never Make Fun of a Turtle, My Son, © 1969 by Martin Gardner. Reprinted courtesy of Martin Gardner.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Favorite poems of childhood / edited by Philip Smith ; illustrated by Harriet
Golden.
p. cm.—(Dover children’s thrift classics)
Includes indexes.
Summary: A collection of familiar poems for and about children, by such authors as Robert Louis Stevenson, Christina Rossetti, Eugene Field, and Sarah Josepha Hale.
9780486110349
1. Children’s poetry, English. 2. Children’s poetry, American. [1. English poetry—Collections. 2. American poetry—Collections.] I. Smith, Philip, 1967- II. Golden, Harriet, ill. III. Series.
PR1175.3.F38 1992
821.008’09282—dc20
92–21799
CIP
AC
Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation
27089015
www.doverpublications.com
Note
THIS VOLUME contains a sampling of the most familiar and acclaimed poems written for and about the very young. These verses will appeal to both young and old alike, and represent the talents of many authors famous for adult- as well as child-oriented works. The many different poem forms displayed here suggest just a few of the countless possibilities afforded by imaginative use of rhyme, rhythm, line length and treatment of subject matter. After you read these poems you may use your imagination to create original works of your own.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Note
The Land of Nod
Hurt No Living Thing
The Cat of Cats
I Love Little Pussy
Mary’s Lamb
Holding Hands
The Field Mouse
Mr. Finney’s Turnip
What Do We Plant?
A Wee Little Worm
Trees - (FOR MRS. HENRY MILLS ALDEN)
Trees
A Frisky Lamb
Whisky Frisky
Nurse’s Song
The Three Little Kittens
There Were Two Ghostesses
Jabberwocky
Only One Mother
The Cow
Tomorrow’s the Fair
The Duel
The Moon’s the North Wind’s Cooky - (WHAT THE LITTLE GIRL SAID)
Mr. Moon - A SONG OF THE LITTLE PEOPLE
Judging by Appearances
The Dinkey-Bird
The Elf and the Dormouse
The Little Elf
The Fairies
An Unsuspected Fact
Minnie and Winnie
A Sea-Song from the Shore
Ducks’ Ditty
Swimming
If
The Fisherman
O Sailor, Come Ashore
In the Night
Dutch Lullaby
The Walrus and the Carpenter
Laughing Song
The Man in the Wilderness
What Is Pink?
The Purple Cow
The Owl and the Pussy-cat
Antigonish
There Was a Little Girl
A Magician
King Arthur
The Young Lady of Niger
Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore
The Rhyme of Dorothy Rose
My Shadow
A Tragedy
The Pantry Ghosts
Mr. Coggs, Watchmaker
Little Boy Blue
The Quangle Wangle’s Hat
The Butter Betty Bought
Barbershop
The Raggedy Man
Great Fleas Have Little Fleas
The Peppery Man
August
The Mayor of Scuttleton
Aunt Eliza
Armies in the Fire
The Star
The Tyger
The Children’s Hour
Tender-Heartedness
Windy Nights
October
The Whango Tree
Little Orphant Annie
Thanksgiving Day
Extremes
The Swing
A Flea and a Fly in a Flue
The Eagle
Who Has Seen the Wind?
I’m Nobody! Who Are You?
November Night
Eldorado
Alphabetical List of Titles
Alphabetical List of Authors
Alphabetical List of First Lines
The Land of Nod
From breakfast on through all the day
At home among my friends I stay,
But every night I go abroad
Afar into the land of Nod.
All by myself I have to go,
With none to tell me what to do—
All alone beside the streams
And up the mountain-sides of dreams.
The strangest things are there for me,
Both things to eat and things to see,
And many frightening sights abroad
Till morning in the land of Nod.
Try as I like to find the way,
I never can get back by day,
Nor can remember plain and clear
The curious music that I hear.
—ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
Hurt No Living Thing
Hurt no living thing:
Ladybird, nor butterfly,
Nor moth with dusty wing,
Nor cricket chirping cheerily,
Nor grasshopper so light of leap,
Nor dancing gnat, nor beetle fat,
Nor harmless worms that creep.
—CHRISTINA ROSSETTI
The Cat of Cats
I am the cat of cats. I am
The everlasting cat!
Cunning, and old, and sleek as jam,
The everlasting cat!
I hunt the vermin in the night—
The everlasting cat!
For I see best without the light—
The everlasting cat!
—WILLIAM BRIGHTY RANDS
I Love Little Pussy
I love little Pussy.
Her coat is so warm,
And if I don’t hurt
her,
She’ll do me no harm.
So I’ll not pull her tail,
Or drive her away,
But Pussy and I
Very gently will play,
She will sit by my side,
And I’ll give her her food,
And she’ll like me because
I am gentle and good.
I’ll pat little Pussy,
And then she will purr,
And thus show her thanks
For my kindness to her;
I’ll not pinch her ears,
Nor tread on her paws,
Lest I should provoke her
To use her sharp claws;
I never will vex her,
Nor make her displeased,
For Pussy can’t bear
To be worried or teased.
—JANE TAYLOR
Mary’s Lamb
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow;
And everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go.
He followed her to school one day,
Which was against the rule;
It made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb at school.
And so the teacher turned him out,
But still he lingered near,
And waited patiently about
Till Mary did appear.
Then he ran to her, and laid
His head upon her arm,
As if he said, “I’m not afraid—
You’ll keep me from all harm.”
“What makes the lamb love Mary so?”
The eager children cried.
“Oh, Mary loves the lamb, you know,”
The teacher quick replied.
And you each gentle animal
In confidence may bind,
And make them follow at your will,
If you are only kind.
—SARAH JOSEPHA HALE
He followed her to school one day.
Holding Hands
Elephants walking
Along the trails
Are holding hands
By holding tails.
Trunks and tails
Are handy things
When elephants walk
In Circus rings.
Elephants work
And elephants play
And elephants walk
And feel so gay.
And when they walk—
It never fails
They’re holding hands
By holding tails.
—LENORE M. LINK
The Field Mouse
When the moon shines o’er the corn
and the beetle drones his horn,
And the flittermice swift fly,
And the nightjars swooping cry,
And the young hares run and leap,
We waken from our sleep.
And we climb with tiny feet
And we munch the green corn sweet
With startled eyes for fear
The white owl should fly near,
Or long slim weasel spring
Upon us where we swing.
We do not hurt at all;
Is there not room for all
Within the happy world?
All day we lie close curled
In drowsy sleep, nor rise
Till through the dusky skies
The moon shines o’er the corn
And the beetle drones his horn.
—WILLIAM SHARP
Mr. Finney’s Turnip
Mr. Finney had a turnip
And it grew and it grew;
And it grew behind the barn,
And that turnip did no harm.
There it grew and it grew
Till it could grow no longer;
Then his daughter Lizzie picked it
And put it in the cellar.
There it lay and it lay
Till it began to rot;
And his daughter Susie took it
And put it in the pot.
And they boiled it and boiled it
As long as they were able,
And then his daughters took it
And put it on the table.
Mr. Finney and his wife
They sat down to sup;
And they ate and they ate
And they ate that turnip up.
—ANONYMOUS
What Do We Plant?
What do we plant when we plant the tree?
We plant the ship which will cross the sea.
We plant the mast to carry the sails;
We plant the planks to withstand the gales—
The keel, the keelson, the beam, the knee;
We plant the ship when we plant the tree.
What do we plant when we plant the tree?
We plant the houses for you and me.
We plant the rafters, the shingles, the floors,
We plant the studding, the lath, the doors,
The beams and siding, all parts that be;
We plant the house when we plant the tree.
What do we plant when we plant the tree?
A thousand things that we daily see;
We plant the spire that out-towers the crag,
We plant the staff for our country’s flag,
We plant the shade, from the hot sun free;
We plant all these when we plant the tree.
—HENRY ABBEY
A Wee Little Worm
A wee little worm in a hickory-nut
Sang, happy as he could be,
“O I live in the heart of the whole round world,
And it all belongs to me!”
—JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY
Trees
(FOR MRS. HENRY MILLS ALDEN)
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
—JOYCE KILMER
Trees
The Oak is called the king of trees,
The Aspen quivers in the breeze,
The Poplar grows up straight and tall,
The Peach tree spreads along the wall,
The Sycamore gives pleasant shade,
The Willow droops in watery glade,
The Fir tree useful timber gives,
The Beech amid the forest lives.
—SARA COLERIDGE
A Frisky Lamb
A frisky lamb
And a frisky child
Playing their pranks
In a cowslip meadow:
The sky all blue
And the air all mild
And the fields all sun
And the lanes half shadow.
—CHRISTINA ROSSETTI
Whisky Frisky
Whisky, frisky,
Hipperty hop,
Up he goes
To the tree top!
Whirly, twirly,
Round and round,
Down he scampers
To the ground.
Furly, curly,
What a tail,
Tall as a feather,
Broad as a sail.
Where’s his supper?
In the shell.
Snappy, cracky,
Out it fell.
—ANONYMOUS
Nurse’s Song
When the voices of children are heard on the
green,
And laughing is heard on the hill,
My heart is at rest within my breast,
And everything else is still.
“Then come home, my children, the sun is gone
down.
And the dews of night arise;
Come, come, leave off play, and let us away
Till the morning appears in the skies.”
“No, no, let us play, for it is yet day,
And we cannot go to sleep;
Besides, in the sky the little birds fly,
And the hills are all cover’d with sheep.”
“Well, well, go & play till the light fades away,
And then go home to bed.”
The little ones leaped & shouted & laugh’d
And all the hills ecchoed.
—WILLIAM BLAZE
The Three Little Kittens
Three little kittens lost their mittens;
And they began to cry,
“Oh, mother dear,
Favorite Poems of Childhood Page 1