Children's poetry is poetry written for, or appropriate for children. This may include folk poetry ; poetry written intentionally for young people ; poetry written originally for adults, but appropriate for young people ; and poems taken from prose works.
History
Poetry is usually one of the first types of literature presented to a child in the form of nursery rhymes or lullabies. Poetry is universal throughout the world's oral traditions as songs and folklore passed down to younger generations. Written poetry first began appearing in the 15th century mostly religious to provide moral instruction. The eighteenth century saw the development of the concept of childhood, and a separate genre of children's literature, including poetry, began to emerge.
Importance
Introducing poetry to children helps develop their literacy skills by developing vocabulary through rhythmic structure of the stanzas which give context to new and unknown words; phonemic awareness through pitch, voice inflection, and volume; memorization through patterns and sequences; self-expression through the creativity and emotion of the words; physical awareness of breath, movements of the mouth and other gestures as they align to the rhythm of the poetry. Scholars also see that poetry and nursery rhymes are universal throughout cultures as an oral tradition.
Notable children's poets
Allan Ahlberg is one of Britain's best-loved children's writers. The author of over a hundred books.
Francisco X. Alarcón first started writing poetry for children in 1997 after realizing there were very few books written by Latino authors. His poems are minimalist and airy, and often published in bilingual editions.
Roald Dahl is one of the most successful children's writers in the world: around thirty million of his books have been sold in the UK alone. Dahl's collection of poems Revolting Rhymes is a re-interpretation of six well-known fairy tales, featuring surprise endings in place of the traditional happily-ever-after. Dahl's poems and stories are popular among Children because he writes from their point of view - in his books adults are often the villains or are just plain stupid!
Paul Fleischman is best known for his collection , winner of the 1989 Newbery Medal.
Nikki Giovanni is one of the world's most well-known African-American poets. Her work directly addresses the African American experience in Spin a Soft Black Song and others.
Edward Lear was the first to use limericks in his writing, authoring A Book of Nonsense in 1846 and featuring silly poetry and neologisms.
Brian Moses is one of Britain's favourite children's poets, for both his own poetry and the anthologies he has edited, and he has performed in over two thousand schools across the UK and Europe. He is a Reading Champion for the Literacy Trust.
Michael Rosen is a broadcaster, children's novelist and poet and the author of 140 books. He was appointed as the fifth Children's Laureate in June 2007, succeeding Jacqueline Wilson, and held this honor till 2009.
Dr. Seuss - wrote many Children's poetry books including The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!.
Shel Silverstein - author of such works as Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic, Silverstein also wrote The Giving Tree.
Jean Sprackland, is an English poet, the author of three collections of poetry published since 1997.
Roger Stevens is a performance poet, author, musician and artist. His poems have appeared in more than one hundred anthologies.
