Poems Every Child Should Know

<h3><SPAN name="The_Tournament" id="The_Tournament"></SPAN>The Tournament.</h3> <div class="pre_poem"><p>There are several of Sidney Lanier's (1842-81) poems that children love to learn. "Tampa Robins," "The Tournament" (Joust 1.), "Barnacles," "The Song of the Chattahoochee," and "The First Steamboat Up the Alabama" are among them. At our "poetry contests" the children have plainly demonstrated that this great poet has reached his hand down to the youngest. The time will doubtless come when it will be a part of education to be acquainted with Lanier, as it is now to be acquainted with Longfellow or Tennyson.</p> </div> <table class="poem" summary="poem"><tr><td> <h4>I.</h4> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Bright shone the lists, blue bent the skies,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And the knights still hurried amain<br/></span> <span class="i0">To the tournament under the ladies' eyes,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Where the jousters were Heart and Brain.<br/></span></div> <h4>II.</h4> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Flourished the trumpets, entered Heart,<br/></span> <span class="i2">A youth in crimson and gold;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Flourished again; Brain stood apart,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Steel-armoured, dark and cold.<br/></span></div> <h4>III.</h4> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Heart's palfrey caracoled gaily round,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Heart tra-li-ra'd merrily;<br/></span> <span class="i0">But Brain sat still, with never a sound,<br/></span> <span class="i2">So cynical-calm was he.<br/></span></div> <h4>IV.</h4> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Heart's helmet-crest bore favours three<br/></span> <span class="i2">From his lady's white hand caught;<br/></span> <span class="i0">While Brain wore a plumeless casque; not he<br/></span> <span class="i2">Or favour gave or sought.<br/></span></div> <h4>V.</h4> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The trumpet blew; Heart shot a glance<br/></span> <span class="i2">To catch his lady's eye.<br/></span> <span class="i0">But Brain gazed straight ahead, his lance<br/></span> <span class="i2">To aim more faithfully.<br/></span></div> <h4>VI.</h4> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">They charged, they struck; both fell, both bled;<br/></span> <span class="i2">Brain rose again, ungloved;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Heart, dying, smiled and faintly said,<br/></span> <span class="i2">"My love to my beloved."<br/></span></div> </td></tr></table> <p class="quotsig"><span class="smcap">Sidney Lanier.</span></p> <h3><SPAN name="The_Wind_and_the_Moon" id="The_Wind_and_the_Moon"></SPAN>The Wind and the Moon.</h3> <div class="pre_poem"><p>Little Laddie, do you remember learning "The Wind and the Moon"? You were eight or nine years old, and you shut your eyes and puffed out your cheeks when you came to the line "He blew and He blew." The saucy wind made a great racket and the calm moon never noticed it. That gave you a great deal of pleasure, didn't it? We did not care much for the noisy, conceited wind. (1824-.)</p> </div> <table class="poem" summary="poem"><tr><td><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Said the Wind to the Moon, "I will blow you out,<br/></span> <span class="i12">You stare<br/></span> <span class="i12">In the air<br/></span> <span class="i12">Like a ghost in a chair,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Always looking what I am about&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">I hate to be watched; I'll blow you out."<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The Wind blew hard, and out went the Moon.<br/></span> <span class="i12">So, deep<br/></span> <span class="i12">On a heap<br/></span> <span class="i12">Of clouds to sleep,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Down lay the Wind, and slumbered soon,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Muttering low, "I've done for that Moon."<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">He turned in his bed; she was there again!<br/></span> <span class="i12">On high<br/></span> <span class="i12">In the sky,<br/></span> <span class="i12">With her one ghost eye,<br/></span> <span class="i0">The Moon shone white and alive and plain.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Said the Wind, "I will blow you out again."<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The Wind blew hard, and the Moon grew dim.<br/></span> <span class="i12">"With my sledge,<br/></span> <span class="i12">And my wedge,<br/></span> <span class="i12">I have knocked off her edge!<br/></span> <span class="i0">If only I blow right fierce and grim,<br/></span> <span class="i0">The creature will soon be dimmer than dim."<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">He blew and he blew, and she thinned to a thread.<br/></span> <span class="i12">"One puff<br/></span> <span class="i12">More's enough<br/></span> <span class="i12">To blow her to snuff!<br/></span> <span class="i0">One good puff more where the last was bred,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And glimmer, glimmer, glum will go the thread."<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">He blew a great blast, and the thread was gone<br/></span> <span class="i12">In the air<br/></span> <span class="i12">Nowhere<br/></span> <span class="i12">Was a moonbeam bare;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Far off and harmless the shy stars shone&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Sure and certain the Moon was gone!<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The Wind he took to his revels once more;<br/></span> <span class="i12">On down,<br/></span> <span class="i12">In town,<br/></span> <span class="i12">Like a merry-mad clown,<br/></span> <span class="i0">He leaped and hallooed with whistle and roar&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">"What's that?" The glimmering thread once more!<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">He flew in a rage&mdash;he danced and blew;<br/></span> <span class="i12">But in vain<br/></span> <span class="i12">Was the pain<br/></span> <span class="i12">Of his bursting brain;<br/></span> <span class="i0">For still the broader the Moon-scrap grew,<br/></span> <span class="i0">The broader he swelled his big cheeks and blew.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Slowly she grew&mdash;till she filled the night,<br/></span> <span class="i12">And shone<br/></span> <span class="i12">On her throne<br/></span> <span class="i12">In the sky alone,<br/></span> <span class="i0">A matchless, wonderful silvery light,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Radiant and lovely, the queen of the night.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Said the Wind: "What a marvel of power am I<br/></span> <span class="i12">With my breath,<br/></span> <span class="i12">Good faith!<br/></span> <span class="i12">I blew her to death&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">First blew her away right out of the sky&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Then blew her in; what strength have I!"<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">But the Moon she knew nothing about the affair;<br/></span> <span class="i12">For high<br/></span> <span class="i12">In the sky,<br/></span> <span class="i12">With her one white eye,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Motionless, miles above the air,<br/></span> <span class="i0">She had never heard the great Wind blare.<br/></span></div> </td></tr></table> <p class="quotsig"><span class="smcap">George Macdonald.</span></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />