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Show "The acid test la the child's own liking," claims Mrs. Wilson. "Besides "Be-sides this no laboratory proof, no age or classroom list, no 'shonlds' nor 'oughts' can stand. 'I like this' and "Don't let's read that' are the only true detenninators." In conclusion con-clusion she adds a word against keeping poetry just within the child's scope. "You will find Junior and Jane will enjoy much they can't entirely understand, un-derstand, particularly If the rhythm Is strong. It's good for a child to stand on tiptoe now and then." JOY OF POETRY IN YOUNG MIND Writer Urges Cultivation of Child's Taste. roetry, like spinach, has been called a cultivated taste. More than one harassed mother has given up the struggle to make Junior or Jane acquire a liking for either. While the defense of spinach rests with somebody some-body else, In The Parents' Magazine Helen Van I'elt Wilson takes up the case for poetry. "You can't expect a child who has never seen a budding willow or an 'alder by the river,' Miss Daffy-down-dilly or a racing cloud, to be very much Interested In poems about them. Yet by stimulating the senses, by a constant appeal to sight, smell, sound, touch and association I have developed love of poetry In my little daughter not yet Qve years of age. Now a poem springs up to accom pany every act of her day." To be sure, daily walks In the country give the Imaginative background back-ground for the nature poetry In which this wise mother coaches her small child. Y'et, in the city there are parks with trees, flowing rivers and florists' windows full of bright beauty. beau-ty. In the city, too, there are museums mu-seums where birds and animals are even more easily seen than In the country. Pictures, well colored, add to nature's lore. Also, there Is poetry po-etry in gigantic machines and the motion of city life. "Why does It matter so much whether children love poetry?" asks Mrs. Wilson, and promptly answers her own question. "To me poetry is an eternal glory and shining light. I shall feel a lamentable failure if I can't pass this joy along to my child. Poetry is a refuge In time of material materi-al losses, agony of grief, thwarted ambitions; there is great comfort in rhythmic beauty poured over the troubled soul." With convictions such as these, no wonder Mrs. Wilson feels that poetry Is the Inalienable right of every child. From knowledge born of her own experience she declares there is spiritual kinship between poet and youngster. "Both are Imaginative, curious, full of wonder and idealism. Both love words for their own sake." When It comes to selecting poetry for children much of the choice should be left to the child. |
