PoemsClassic poems for children, complete
The poems generations of children have learnt by heart, complete and in the public domain: Jane Taylor's The Star (most people know only the first verse of five), Christina Rossetti's Who Has Seen the Wind?, and three poems from Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses (1885).
Poems
The Star (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star)
Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are! Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky. When the blazing sun is gone, When he nothing shines upon, Then you show your little light, Twinkle, twinkle, all the night. Then the traveller in the dark Thanks you for your tiny spark; He could not see which way to go, If you did not twinkle so. In the dark blue sky you keep, And often through my curtains peep, For you never shut your eye Till the sun is in the sky. As your bright and tiny spark Lights the traveller in the dark, Though I know not what you are, Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
Jane Taylor (1783 to 1824), Rhymes for the Nursery (1806)Who Has Seen the Wind?
Who has seen the wind? Neither I nor you: But when the leaves hang trembling, The wind is passing through. Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I: But when the trees bow down their heads, The wind is passing by.
Christina Rossetti (1830 to 1894), Sing-Song (1872)The Swing
How do you like to go up in a swing, Up in the air so blue? Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing Ever a child can do! Up in the air and over the wall, Till I can see so wide, Rivers and trees and cattle and all Over the countryside, Till I look down on the garden green, Down on the roof so brown, Up in the air I go flying again, Up in the air and down!
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 to 1894), A Child's Garden of Verses (1885)Bed in Summer
In winter I get up at night And dress by yellow candle-light. In summer, quite the other way, I have to go to bed by day. I have to go to bed and see The birds still hopping on the tree, Or hear the grown-up people's feet Still going past me in the street. And does it not seem hard to you, When all the sky is clear and blue, And I should like so much to play, To have to go to bed by day?
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 to 1894), A Child's Garden of Verses (1885)Rain
The rain is raining all around, It falls on field and tree, It rains on the umbrellas here, And on the ships at sea.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 to 1894), A Child's Garden of Verses (1885)I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
I'm nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too? Then there's a pair of us, don't tell! They'd banish us, you know. How dreary to be somebody! How public, like a frog To tell your name the livelong day To an admiring bog!
Emily Dickinson (1830 to 1886), published 1891
Nothing matches. Try a shorter word, or choose All.
About these poems
- The Star: the poem the world knows as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" was written by Jane Taylor and printed in 1806 in Rhymes for the Nursery, a book she made with her sister Ann. It has five verses. The later ones explain what the star is for: it lights the traveller in the dark.
- Who Has Seen the Wind?: Christina Rossetti's two short verses about something we never see, only its effects: trembling leaves, trees bowing their heads.
- The Swing, Bed in Summer and Rain: from Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses (1885). Stevenson was often ill as a child, and wrote these poems as a grown man remembering how the world looked from a small bed and a garden swing.
- I'm Nobody! Who Are You?: Emily Dickinson's playful poem about how pleasant it is not to be famous. She compares a public person to a frog telling its name all day to "an admiring bog".
Teaching them to a child
These poems have lasted because they sound good in a child's mouth. Say the poem aloud together before explaining anything. Then ask one question that has no wrong answer: "Where do you think the wind goes?" or "Why can the child see so far from the swing?" For "The Swing", say it while pushing a real swing, one line to each push. The beat of the poem is the beat of the swing, and children feel it at once.
For recitation
- Nursery and kindergarten: "Rain" (four lines) or the first verse of "The Star".
- Classes 1 and 2: "Who Has Seen the Wind?" or all five verses of "The Star".
- Classes 3 to 5: "The Swing" or "Bed in Summer", with expression.
- Older children who like a joke: "I'm Nobody! Who Are You?", said with a wink.
Words that may be new
- Blazing (The Star): burning brightly. Spark: a tiny point of light.
- Countryside and cattle (The Swing): what the child sees over the garden wall.
- Quite the other way (Bed in Summer): in winter the child gets up in the dark, and in summer goes to bed while it is still day.
- Bog (I'm Nobody): wet, muddy ground where frogs live. Banish: send away.
New rhymes too
If your child's class already knows these, our own new rhymes for children are about samosas, school bags, autos and ants, in English, Hindi and Punjabi.
Good to know
- The Star has five verses. Singing all five surprises every audience.