From breakfast on through all the day
At home among my friends I stay,
But every night I go abroad
Afar into the land of Nod.
All by myself I have to go,
With none to tell me what to do --
All alone beside the streams
And up the mountain-sides of dreams.
The strangest things are there for me,
Both things to eat and things to see,
And many frightening sights abroad
Till morning in the land of Nod.
Try as I like to find the way,
I never can get back by day,
Nor can remember plain and clear
The curious music that I hear.
- Robert Louis Stevenson
P.S.
Throughout my haze of a day, this poem kept coming to mind. It was included in the book of Mother Goose nursery rhymes I had as a child. My grandmother, a.k.a. Mammy, largely taught me how to read by reading from the book while tracing under the words with her finger.
Dear Beth,
ReplyDeleteI recognised that poem before I had finished the first verse! R L Stevenson's poems played a large part in my learning to read too! My mother had an original cloth version with gold leaf picture on the cover of 'A Child's Garden of Verses' by RLS (printed 1880 I think). When I was very young, between 6 and 8 years old, my mother used to ask me to read the book to her on Sundays as she cooked in the kitchen, (probably her way of helping me to learn to read, checking pronounciation etc). With six children she didn't have much time to teach us in the way you said your Mammy did with you! She loved that book which was given to her when she was a child, it was one of her most treasured possessions. She sent it to me shortly before she died, she said she wanted me to have it. I felt sad that she didn't have it any more so I bought her another copy which I have now.
I bet you taught your children to read like that too, reading to them and tracing with your finger? I did that with my twins, one sitting each side of me, I found it a great way of helping them to learn to read in English, as they progressed to reading a sentence here and there then paragraphs they learned to read in English as fast as they learned to read in French at school and learned the strange pronounciations well too.
The Land of Nod is a lovely poem, in the Garden of Verses there are so many more delightful ones too. RLS was quite sick as a child and was often in bed, looked after by his Nanny so a few of his poems were about being in bed, playing with soldiers on his counterpane etc.
Have a happy Sunday Beth
Love Angela
It's interesting to me that those early childhood poems and songs are some of the things that stick with us the longest. I've heard that Alzheimer's patients who have even lost the ability to converse, can often still sing songs (or at least respond to songs) from their earliest years.
ReplyDeleteGlad you were introduced to such quality poetry that you can fall back on! Can't go wrong with Robert Louis Stevenson.
Blessings,
Carol