The Littlest Rhymes Poetry #1

We think poetry is difficult to read and difficult to understand. But we’ve been exposed to poetry from our very first year of life. Nursery rhymes are, in fact, poetry.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star…

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe…

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet…

And now we’re confused! What in heaven’s name is a tuffet? According to Dictionary.com, a tuffet is simply a low stool or footstool, what I grew up calling a hassock. (But hassock doesn’t rhyme with Muffet.)

Is rhyming all that’s necessary to write poetry? No, but if you can’t find the right word to rhyme, just make it up!

“Jabberwocky” is a fun poem by Lewis Carroll that was first included as part of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. “’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves/Did gyre and gimble in the wabe…” I only know a few words in that sentence, but isn’t it just fun to say?!

And “Jabberwocky” has a certain rhythm that we can instinctively follow. There are many other poems that have a distinctive and rhythmic readability. One of my favorites is Edgar Allen Poe’s “Annabelle Lee.” "She lived with no other thought/Than to love and be loved by me."

Rhythm and rhyme makes poetry easy to remember, even memorize. Can you finish the next line?

“Listen, my children, and you shall hear…”

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood…”

That last one is Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.” I was forced to memorize that way back in seventh grade. I think I can still recite most of it. That third stanza gave me problems back then and it still does today. Nevertheless, it has become one of my favorite poems. I recognize, as I write this series, that I enjoy poetry more than I realized! I hope you are realizing that you do, too!