An anthology of poems for young learners
View(s):Varied Verses, an anthology of poems curated by the veteran teacher of speech Lakshmi Jeganathan, is an anthology of poems specifically selected for teaching speech and drama to young learners. The curator has carefully selected poems with potential for enunciation of sounds and brought them out in a colourful book which not only offers reading pleasure for a general reader but exceptional classroom material for a teaching practitioner.
The book offers over 190 poems, some composed by the curator; some, traditional poems culled in from her lengthy classroom experience in using poems to teach language; and others written by famed English poets. All poems offer intense potential for experiencing the sounds of the English language. The book also offers a comprehensive teachers’ guide on pronunciation. The book is spacious, glossy and easy to refer to. The colourful illustrations make the journey of reading the book extremely pleasant.
The poems selected by the curator takes us back to our primary school days—some of the poems that seem to have disappeared from the earth (Little Miss Tucket; Humpty Dumpty) are reproduced in the book with colour-guided notes for students and teachers. The work of Yeats, Tennyson and Longfellow appear for their lingering power of stressed syllables. And there is a poem by Wendy Whatmore, a beautiful lyrical ballad that portrays her love for the island home. The curator’s compositions are not identified, and one needs to make a good guess about her authorship, specifically when a poem refers to subjects that are closer to home.
The book would work better if the poems were thematized as we tend to do in poetry anthologies. Thematized poems always function as a road map for a teacher or a reader and offer them greater notions of enjoying reading. The poems featured need careful reference notes as to their origins and context. One needs to understand that the value of a poem goes beyond its sound—poems also imbibe history and aesthetics of interpretation and meaning.
Yet despite these concerns Varied Verses deserves genuine praise for its bold approach in bringing together the elements of sound in good poetry, whereby a reader could enjoy poetry from a different angle; and providing beautiful classroom ideas and exposure for potential teachers to instil a deep love of language among their students.
| Book Facts | |
| Varied Verses Curator: Lakshmi Jeganathan Reviewed by Lal Medawattegedara |
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