The Classical Reciter

By Gail McGaffigan

I will never forget the responses from my children when I announced that they would have to start memorizing poetry...
"Poetry!" spat the boy.
"Memorize?" quavered the girl.
...and each wore a look reminiscent of one who is chewing tin foil.
Four years later, I would love to say that they have embraced poetry and that I have to fight off their constant pleas to learn more, more, more...but that would be a lie. I can, however, truthfully tell you that memorizing poetry has had the following effects on them:

They fell in love with each poem they memorized.
Their test grades improved.
Their self-esteem increased.
They are always peaceful while working on poetry.

What's more, rediscovering poetry through my children has done all these things for me, as well. Now, I wish to bring this beauty into your life.
Poetry belongs to mankind: it is a cultural common ground, accessible to all. If everyone committed some poetry to memory, this planet would be a more peaceful and civilized place.
You are never too old or too young to bring some poetry into you life. This book contains something for everyone. You will be amazed when poetry focuses your mind on beauty, and the stresses of life subside.

135 poems organized by grade level, preschool through adult.

This is the companion book for the overnight sensation blog, The Classical Reciter. Take the challenge at(classicalreciter.blogspot.com).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gail McGaffigan
• Release date: Dec 27, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301153312

Gail McGaffigan

Isn't it hard to find something good to read sometimes? I know the feeling. It's tough to find a book that's clean, but not boring; with honorable characters with whom you feel a kinship. I am dedicated to creating wholesome, enjoyable books for you and your family, because I create them for my family, as well. If you're expecting to read about how it was always my dream to be a writer, you might be disappointed: I am sort of a reluctant author. My interest in writing grew from my fascination with mostly-forgotten American books of the 19th and early 20th centuries; not so much the great classics, but good dimestore, bread-and-butter-type books. Their material is so incredibly good, and I love the values, but much of it is not suited to the modern reader; so I think of myself as working "post-humorously" with authors of the past, restoring their intent. It's a lot like home renovation - Some will make it historically perfect, others will modernize everything...but some would rather restore the builder's intent, by synthesizing old and new to create something that's just right. Back then, authors felt that it was important to convey this message: It's worth it. All the struggle and the sacrifices we make to maintain our integrity and live with dignity are all worth it. This message is as vital today as ever, and I am honored for this chance to deliver it to you and your family. A New Jersey native and graduate of the Boston University School for the Arts, I now live in coastal New England with my husband, son, daughter, and a greyhound who has 19 lives. I am currently at work on her next book, as well as Classically Gail, my free, one-year online course in Music Appreciation. I may be contacted at either of her blogs, including http://www.classicallygail.blogspot.com

Book preview

The Classical Reciter

Poems to Learn

By Heart

Gail McGaffigan, Ed.

Copyright 2012 Gail McGaffigan

All Rights Reserved

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Table of Contents

Introduction

The Program

Preschool

(all preschool selections are traditional)

1 The Hive

2 The Church

3 Five Fat Peas

4 Tommy Thumb

5 My Book

6 Rain

7 Little Robin Redbreast

8 The Bunny

9 Peter's Hammer

Kindergarten

1 The Little Girl With A Curl ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

2 Diddle Diddle Dumpling

3 Hey, Diddle Diddle

4 Georgie Porgie

5 Hickety, Pickety

6 Hot Cross Buns

7 Humpty Dumpty

8 Jack Sprat

9 Pussy-cat, Pussy-cat

Grade 1

1 Goosey, Goosey Gander

2 I Had a Little Nut Tree

3 Jack and Jill

4 Little Boy Blue

5 The Queen of Hearts

6 Simple Simon

7 The Grand Old Duke of York

8 There was a Crooked Man

9 Sing a Song of Sixpence

Grade 2

1 Trees ~ Joyce Kilmer

2 Monday's Child ~ Mother Goose

3 Fog ~ Carl Sandburg

4 The Swing ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

5 Boys and Girls Come Out to Play ~ Trad. English

6 A Prayer for a Little Home ~ Florence Bone

7 Our Lips and Ears ~ Anonymous

8 Thirty Days hath September ~ Mother Goose

9 Oranges and Lemons ~ Traditional English

Grade 3

1 Who has Seen the Wind ~ Christina Georgina Rosetti

2 Marjorie's Almanac ~ Thomas Bailey Aldrich

3 The Year's at the Spring ~ Robert Browning

4 There is Another Sky ~Emily Dickinson

5 The Owl and the Pussycat ~ Edward Lear

6 Silver ~ Walter de la Mare

7 A Good Boy ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

8 Three Gates ~ from The Arabian

9 At the Sea-Side ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Grade 4

1 The Duel ~ Eugene Field

2 A Visit from St. Nicholas ~ Clement C. Moore

3 Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening ~ Robert Frost

4 A Clear Midnight ~ Walt Whitman

5 Ozymandias ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley

6 The Optimist ~ unknown

7 The Man with the Chip on his Shoulder ~ unknown

8 Autumn Fires ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

9 The Faeries ~ William Allingham

Grade 5

1 The Camel's Hump ~ Rudyard Kipling

2 No Man Is An Island ~ John Donne

3 The Arrow and the Song ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

4 A Boy's Song ~ James Hogg

5 The Sandpiper ~ Celia Thaxter

6 October's Bright Blue Weather~ Helen Hunt Jackson

7 Which Loved Best? ~ Joy Allison

8 November ~ Thomas Hood

9 Fraidie Cat ~ Clinton Scollard

Grade 6

1 The Tiger ~ William Blake

2 The Road Not Taken ~ Robert Frost

3 In Flanders Fields ~ John McCrae

4 It Couldn't Be Done ~ Edgar Guest

5 A Child’s Prayer ~ Matilda B. Edwards

6 Old Ironsides ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

7 The Lake Isle of Innisfree ~ William Butler Yeats

8 Summer Sun ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

9 Dust of Snow ~ Robert Frost

Grade 7

1 Jabberwocky ~ Lewis Carroll

2 Invictus ~ William Ernest Henley

3 Red Geraniums ~ Martha Haskell Clark

4 For all Your Years Prepare ~ Edwin Markham

5 Abou Ben Adhem ~ James Henry Leigh Hunt

6 Song of Marion's Men ~ William Cullen Bryant

7 Concord Hymn ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

8 Tavern ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay

9 My House, I Say ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Grade 8

1 Solitude ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

2 1914 V: The Soldier ~ Rupert Brooke

3 Little Orphant Annie~ James Whitcomb Riley

4 Outwitted ~ Edwin Markham

5 Bishop Doane On His Dog ~ St. John Lucas

6 Warren's Address ~ John Pierpont

7 Puck's Speech from A Midsummer Night's Dream ~ William Shakespeare

8 Afternoon on a Hill ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay

9 It is the Hour ~ Lord George Gordon Byron

Grade 9

1 A Dream Within a Dream ~ Edgar Allan Poe

2 O Captain! My Captain! ~ Walt Whitman

3 from The Merchant of Venice ~ William Shakespeare

4 Tell Him So ~ Unknown

5 US Bill of Rights

6 The Builders ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

7 The Wind and the Moon ~ George Macdonald

8 Forgiveness ~ John Greenleaf Whittier

9 Memory ~ Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Grade 10

1 Death Be Not Proud ~ John Donne

2 If ~ Rudyard Kipling

3 The Right Kind of People ~ Edwin Markham

4 excerpt from Friendship ~ Henry David Thoreau

5 Casabianca ~ Felicia Hemans

6 Ammendments to the US Constitution

7 The Mercy Speech ~ William Shakespeare

8 Christmas Bells ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

9 Evening Star ~ Edgar Allan Poe

Grade 11

1 Daffodils ~ William Wordsworth

2 Bright Star ~ John Keats

3 The Passionate Shepherd to his Love ~ Christopher Marlowe

4 Dover Beach ~ Matthew Arnold

5 Preamble to the Constitution of the United States

6 Miss Foggerty's Cake ~ C. Frank Horn

7 The Erl-King ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

8 Apostrophe to the Ocean ~ Lord Byron

9 The Tax Poem ~ unknown

Grade 12

1 Love's Philosophy ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley

2 The Sin of Omission ~ Margaret Sangster

3 The Sea of Faith ~ Matthew Arnold

4 The Feast of The Snow ~ G. .K. Chesterton

5 A Thing of Beauty (Endymion) ~ John Keats

6 A Red, Red Rose ~ Robert Burns

7 A Psalm of Life ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

8 Gettysburg Address ~ Abraham Lincoln

9 The Walrus and The Carpenter ~ Lewis Carroll

Adult Challenge

1 The Village Blacksmith ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

2 The Chambered Nautilus ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

3 Just A Boy ~ Edgar A. Guest

4 Paul Revere's Ride ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

5 Sir Galahad ~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson

6 The Sorcerer's Song ~ W.S. Gilbert

7 A Man's a Man for a' That ~ Robert Burns

8 Beth Gêlert ~ William Robert Spencer

9 Casey at the Bat ~ Ernest Lawrence Thayer

About the Author

Introduction

I will never forget the responses from my children when I announced that they would have to start