Poetry and Childhood

Edited by: Morag Styles, Louise Joy and David Whitley

ISBN: 9781858564722

Price: £22.99

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Foreword by Andrew Motion

240 Pages
244 x 170mm
October 2010

Poetry and Childhood is the first academic book to give serious critical attention to the poetry of childhood. This international volume brings together poets including Philip Gross, Andrew Motion and Michael Rosen - the latter both former Laureates - and distinguished critics such as Teresa Cremin, Peter Hunt, Lissa Paul, David Rudd, Chip Sullivan, Laura Tosi, and Victor Watson.

The collection is based on a prestigious conference organised by Morag Styles for the British Library and the University of Cambridge. Contributors of international renown look at key poets of childhood from the past, including John Bunyan, robert Lois Stephenson, AA Milne, Ted Hughes and Charles Causley, and at the poetry for children by present English Poet Laureate, Carol ann Duffy.

They consider the major traditions and forms of poetry, take a new look at comic verse, develop fresh perspectives on nature as a central theme, and celebrate the importance of poetry as an oral medium. The voices of children, poets, parents and teachers responding to poetry are featured throughout.

Though primarily aimed at scholars and teachers of children's literature, this collection is for everyone who is interested in poetry or children.

Contents

Introduction: Taking the Long View - the State of Children's Poetry Today - Morag Styles

WHAT IS CHILDREN'S POETRY?

Chapter 1: Theory, Texts and contexts: A Reading and Writing Memoir - Michael Rosen
Chapter 2: Confronting the Snark: The Non-Theory of Children's Poetry - Peter Hunt
Chapter 3: What Is Children's Poetry? Children's Views of Children's Poetry - Stephen Miles
Chapter 4: Ted Hughes and the 'Old Age of Childhood' - Lissa Paul

POETS AND CHILDHOOD

Chapter 5: 'Childish Toys' for Boys with Beards: John Bunyan's A Book for Boys and Girls - Pat Pinsent
Chapter 6: 'Those first affections': Wordswoth and Mournful Adolescence - Louise Joy
Chapter 7: 'The Land of Play': Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses - Shaun Holland
Chapter 8: A.A Milne's Poetic World of Childhood in When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six - Jean Webb
Chapter 9: 'The Penny Fiddle' and Poetic Truth - Michael Joseph
Chapter 10: 'A child, barefoot: alone': Innocence in Charles Causley's Poetry - Debbie Pullinger
Chapter 11: 'Not Not Nursery Rhymes' and 'Not Not Lullabies': How Carol Ann Duffy and Pórarinn Eldjarn Refurnish the Nursery - Olga Holownia

TRADITIONS AND FORMS OF POETRY FOR CHILDREN

Chapter 12: Humpty Dumpty and the Sense on an Unending - David Rudd
Chapter 13: 'If it rhymes, it's funny': Theories of humour in Children's Poetry - Karen Coats
Chapter 14: Children's Oral Poetry: Identity and Obscenity - C.W. Sullivan III
Chapter 15: Poetry in Children's Annuals - Victor Watson
Chapter 16: Wicked Thoughts: Fairy-tale Poetry for Children and Adults - Laura Tosi

CHILDHOOD AND NATURE: CHANGING PERSPECTIVES

Chapter 17: Anthropomorphism Dressed and Undressed in Beatrix Potter's Rhymes and Riddles - Lorraine Kerslake
Chapter 18: Once upon a time in the realms of Eden: Children's Poetry in Brazil - Telma Franco Diniz
Chapter 19: Animal Poems and Children's Rights in America, 1820-1890 - Angela Sorby
Chapter 20: 'Imaginary gardens with real toads in them': Animals in Children's Poetry - David Whitley

CHILDREN, TEACHERS, POETS, READERS

Chapter 21: Poets in the Making: Ted Hughes, Poetry and Children - Peter Cook
Chapter 22: Articulating the Auditory Imagination: When Children Talk About Poetry They Hear - John Gordon
Chapter 23: The Affordances of Orality for young People's Experience of Poetry - Joy Alexander
Chapter 24: Exploring Poetry Teachers: Teachers Who Read and Readers Who Teach Poetry - Teresa Cremin

AFTERWORDS

Chapter 25: Playing with words: Two children's Encounters with Poetry from Birth - Virginia Lowe
Chapter 26: Writing Alongside at the Poetry and Childhood Conference - Philip Gross

Reviews

With the calibre of contributors and the range of topics covered, this volume looks set to be the definative work on poetry and childhood for the foreseeable future. - Roger Walshe, Head of Learning, The British Library

This collection of essays asks important questions about the nature of poetry for children, and provides a host of illuminating answers. It aalso confirms the strength and variety of recent writers in the field, paying proper respect to their originality, as well as to the ways they extend a distinguished and fascinating tradition. - Andrew Motion

'This is a hugely significant book.' - School Librarian Magazine

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