Tagged: Poetry

Poetry might have been categorized under Books and Reading, or Writing, or Creativity, or Language Arts, but here it is in Soul Care, because its beauty ministers to the soul.

Read poetry every week; it will nourish your soul.

How to Enjoy Poetry Every Week

Do you read poetry and share it with your children? I’d like to prescribe a dose of poetry every single day, but I know that might seem daunting. How about poetry every week instead? Start with simple poems, laying a solid...

Easter Wings by George Herbert is a beautiful poem for spring.

Easter Wings: A Poem for Spring

Springtime puts me into a poetic frame of mind, so by the time April arrives — it’s Poetry Month, you know — I have a stack of poetry by my chair and favorite lines running through my head. Most of the...

A poem, truth, and the month of May illustrated by "Interesting Story" by Laura MuntzLyall, 1898.

A poem, truth, and the month of May

Under the Willows by James Russell Lowell, 1819 – 1891 May is a pious fraud of the almanac, A ghastly parody of real Spring Shaped out of snow and breathed with eastern wind; Or if, o’er-confident, she trust the date, And, with her...

Aunt Edie made a commonplace book for quotes, poems, and paper memorabilia.

Aunt Edie’s Commonplace Book, 1917-1947

“It is very helpful to read with a commonplace book or reading-diary, in which to put down any striking thought in your author, or your own impression of the work, or of any part of it; but not summaries of...

"If virtue & knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslav'd. This will be their great security." Samuel Adams

A Poem for Independence Day 2015

In honor of Independence Day 2015, here is a classic poem about the nickname of the American flag. Use it as copywork or just enjoy it! I’ve also included a stirring rendition of America the Beautiful and few pithy quotes....

Old boxcar against a western sky.

Westward ho! Adding Context to Travel

We are preparing for the WHO conference in Washington state and GHC in Ontario, California and as I always do when going westward, I start thinking of classic poetry, western songs, and big beautiful western sky. For me, it is...

Celebrating the 750th anniversary of Dante's birth.

Dante’s 750th Anniversary, Properly Celebrated

The 750th anniversary of the birth of the great poet Dante Alighieri is being fittingly celebrated today in Italy. Oscar-winning actor Roberto Benigni will visit the Italian Senate to read from Dante’s masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, to an audience that will include Italy’s...

The Memory Project: Pied Beauty and More

The Memory Project: Pied Beauty and More

Memory is the storehouse of whatever knowledge we possess; and it is upon the fact of the stores lodged in the memory that we take rank as intelligent beings. Charlotte Mason, Home Education, p. 151 I’ve been thinking about memory...

Winter reading is one of life's great pleasures.

Winter Reading: Something Old, Something New

I love long, cosy winter evenings spent with a good book and a cat. This is when I whittle down the reading pile I’ve accumulated by my chair during the convention season and travel months. While some of my winter...

Autumn Carnival: Looking Forward, Looking Back

This 463rd Carnival of Homeschooling offers a smorgasbord of creative ideas, inspiration, and practical tips for homeschooling. As you read each post, I hope you’ll find kindred spirits among the bloggers, and lots of good things to read as you sit by the fire and sip tea.

Valley-Forge-independence-day

Two Poems and a March for Independence Day

In honor of United States of America’s Independence Day on the 4th of July, here are are two thought-provoking, classic poems, plus one of my all-time favorite marches. The first poem, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “A Nation’s Strength,” would make an excellent...

The Angelus by Francois Millet is a lovely painting depicting a young couple pausing for prayer in the middle of the day.

Gratefulness and Thanksgiving

Enjoy a poem (Gratefulnesse by George Herbert); a recipe (cranberry-orange relish), and a Thanksgiving sale, aka Homeschool Black Friday).

The Poetry of August: Warm, Slow, Evocative

Three poems for August: A bird came down the walk (Dickinson), August (Swineburne), and Summer Stars (Sandburg).

Blossoms everywhere in the spring.

Poems for Spring by Gerard Manley Hopkins and Amy Lowell

Here are two spring poems by two of my favorite poets: Spring by Gerard Manley Hopkins and Lilacs by Amy Lowell. Both are suitable for copywork and recitation. Enjoy!

Winter Poems by Stevenson, Emerson, and Hardy

Sometimes a poem evokes the mood of a season more than anything else could. “Picture-books in Winter” by Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Snow Storm” by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and “The Darkling Thrush” by Thomas Hardy are three of my favorites.

Summer Poem: A Boy and His Dad by Edgar Guest

It’s time for our annual summer poem. This year, I chose a warm, evocative poem by Edgar A. Guest as well as a brief poem by William Carlos Williams.

Our Summer Poem: The Summer Rain by Henry David Thoreau

Here’s our annual poem pick for summer: “The Summer Rain” by Henry David Thoreau. Enjoy cool thoughts as you read it!

Copying a text is one way to absorb great ideas and improve writing skills.

The Power of Copying a Text

The power of a text is different when it is read from when it is copied out. Only the copied text thus commands the soul of him who is occupied with it, whereas the mere reader never discovers the new...

“The Schoolboy”- A Summer Poem by William Blake

It’s been awhile since I posted a poem, but when I heard someone talking about doing school through summer, I just had to post this one! Enjoy! I love to rise in a summer morn, When the birds sing on...

Requiem for Clue- A Very Old Dog: 1996-2009

Today we said good-bye to dear old friend. It’s never easy, and I’ll miss his ancient tottering steps following me through the house from dawn to dark. Today is the first time I’ve sat in my office chair, without needing...

The Angelus by Francois Millet is a lovely painting depicting a young couple pausing for prayer in the middle of the day.

“Gratefulness”- A Poem of Thanksgiving and a Recipe

This is my favorite Thanksgiving poem, and if you have been with me for many years, you know that you’ll receive it each year as my Thanksgiving “article.” It is a poem of grace and beauty, and I hope you...

Veterans’ Day 2008- The Soldier by Robert Frost

The Soldier by Robert Frost He is that fallen lance that lies as hurled, That lies unlifted now, come dew, come rust, But still lies pointed as it ploughed the dust. If we who sight along it round the world,...

An Autumn Poem for Copywork

I believe that Charlotte Mason‘s method for teaching language arts provides an excellent foundation for future language arts learning. Copywork is the step that begins the process of learning to write. First, read the entire poem aloud, using appropriate inflection....

Summertime- Blake, Rilke, Sandburg, Shakespeare

Summer has begun– a slower, sweeter time of year for many families. I enjoy each month of the year as it arrives, but the lushness of summer greens is a special delight. Each time I pick roses, I gather a...

Going screen free for awhile every week is a way to improve your life.

Screen Free Week: Fast, Cheap, Easy Life Enhancement!

Why not live a little this week? The Center for Screen Time Awareness is once again sponsoring the ever-timely Screen Free Week. Pointing out that “television cuts into family time, harms our children’s ability to read and succeed in school,...

Celebrate April with Hopkins, Frost, Eliot, and Rossetti

I’ve been stricken with spring fever and could not resist sharing the beauty of a few of my favorite spring poems. I’ll offer them without comment, as I believe they are best savored quietly. If you wish to learn more...

The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy (and SAT Essay Prep)

I leant upon a coppice gate When Frost was spectre-gray, And Winter’s dregs made desolate The weakening eye of day. The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their...

The Collected Poems of George Herbert

Gratefulnesse by George Herbert

“Gratefullness” is one of my favorite poems, and I’m sharing it in honor of Thanksgiving.

‘To Autumn’ by John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees, And fill all fruit...

“Remember” by Christina Rosetti

Thinking about September 11…. Remember Christina Rosetti   Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land; When you can no more hold me by the hand, Nor I half turn to go, yet turning...