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  • Poem ideas please!
    by Freebird at 14:11 on 20 June 2013
    Help! I need a poem about trains, preferably with the right rhythm, like 'Night Mail' by W.H.Auden, but perhaps shorter and more suitable for children.

    Any ideas? if not, I'll have to write one myself... I need it for a teaching interview next week!
  • Re: Poem ideas please!
    by EmmaD at 14:59 on 20 June 2013
    There's a lovely one by Robert Louis Stevenson

    http://www.bartleby.com/188/138.html

    Lots of lovely rhythm. I connect it in my head with Masefield's Cargoes...
  • Re: Poem ideas please!
    by MariaH at 21:53 on 20 June 2013
    I remember our teacher reading that Robert Louis Stevenson one to our class in primary school and explaining how the speed of the rhyme is in keeping with the speed of the train. We loved it, great choice!
  • Re: Poem ideas please!
    by GaiusCoffey at 22:15 on 20 June 2013
    This is probably too long and not what you want, either. But... It rhymes and goes down well with little people.
    http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15791057-steam-train-dream-train
  • Re: Poem ideas please!
    by Freebird at 16:58 on 23 June 2013
    I'll check out both of those - great, thanks!
  • Re: Poem ideas please!
    by Dee at 07:27 on 24 June 2013
    This is quite long, but can be shortened. It's by Wilma Horsbrugh

    The Train To Glasgow



    Here is the train to Glasgow.

    Here is the driver,
    Mr. MacIver,
    Who drove the train to Glasgow.

    Here is the guard from Donibristle
    Who waved his flag and blew his whistle
    To tell the driver,
    Mr. MacIver,
    To start the train to Glasgow.

    Here is a boy called Donald MacBrain
    Who came to the station to catch the train
    But saw the guard from Donibristle
    Wave his flag and blow his whistle
    To tell the driver,
    Mr. MacIver,
    To start the train to Glasgow.

    Here is the guard, a kindly man
    Who, at the last moment, hauled into the van
    That fortunate boy called Donald MacBrain
    Who came to the station to catch the train
    But saw the guard from Donibristle
    Wave his flag and blow his whistle
    To tell the driver,
    Mr. MacIver,
    To start the train to Glasgow.

    Here are hens and here are cocks,
    Clucking and crowing inside a box,
    In charge of the guard, that kindly man
    Who, at the last moment, hauled into the van
    That fortunate boy called Donald MacBrain
    Who came to the station to catch the train
    But saw the guard from Donibristle
    Wave his flag and blow his whistle
    To tell the driver,
    Mr. MacIver,
    To start the train to Glasgow.

    Here is the train. It gave a jolt
    Which loosened a catch and loosened a bolt,
    And let out the hens and let out the cocks,
    Clucking and crowing inside a box,
    In charge of the guard, that kindly man
    Who, at the last moment, hauled into the van
    That fortunate boy called Donald MacBrain
    Who came to the station to catch the train
    But saw the guard from Donibristle
    Wave his flag and blow his whistle
    To tell the driver,
    Mr. MacIver,
    To start the train to Glasgow.

    The guard chased a hen and, missing it, fell
    The hens were all squawking. the cocks were as well,
    And unless you were there you haven't a notion
    The flurry, the fuss, the noise and commotion
    Caused by the train which gave a jolt
    And loosened a catch and loosened a bolt,
    And let out the hens and let out the cocks,
    Clucking and crowing inside a box,
    In charge of the guard, that kindly man
    Who, at the last moment, hauled into the van
    That fortunate boy called Donald MacBrain
    Who came to the station to catch the train
    But saw the guard from Donibristle
    Wave his flag and blow his whistle
    To tell the driver,
    Mr. MacIver,
    To start the train to Glasgow.

    Now Donald was quick and Donald was neat
    And Donald was nimble on his feet.
    He caught the hens and he caught the cocks
    And he put them back in their great big box.
    The guard was pleased as pleased could be
    And invited Donald to come to tea
    At Saturday, at Donibristle.
    And let him blow his lovely whistle,
    And said in all his life he'd never
    Seen a boy so quick and clever,
    And so did the driver,
    Mr. MacIver,
    Who drove the train to Glasgow.

    Edited by Dee at 07:38:00 on 24 June 2013
  • Re: Poem ideas please!
    by EmmaD at 14:05 on 24 June 2013
    Not so much for children, but I can't resist Flanders & Swann's Slow Train, and it is actually interesting as an example of the power of words and names which the reader may not actually know anything about.

    Them singing it here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6OHD2uCpfU

    Millers Dale for Tideswell
    Kirby Muxloe
    Mow Cop and Scholar Green

    No more will I go to Blandford Forum and Mortiehow,
    On the slow train from Midsummer Norton and Mumby Row,
    No churns, no porter,
    No cat on a seat,
    At Chorlton-cum-Hardy and Chester-le-Street
    We won't be meeting again on the slow train.

    I'll travel no more from Littleton Badsey to Openshaw,
    At Long Stanton I'll stand well clear of the doors no more,
    No whitewashed pebbles,
    No up and no down,
    From Thornby Four Crosses to Dunstable Town,
    I won't be going again on the slow train.

    On the main line and the goods siding,
    The grass grows high,
    At Dog Dyke, Tumby Woodside, and Troublehouse Halt.
    The sleepers sleep at Audlem and Ambergate,
    No passenger waits on Chittening platform of Cheslyn Hay,
    No-one departs, no-one arrives,
    From Selby to Goole,
    From St. Erth to St. Ives,
    They all passed out of our lives,
    On the slow train,
    On the slow train.
    Cockermouth for Buttermere
    On the slow train.
    Armly Moor Arram
    Pye Hill and Somercotes
    On the slow train.
    Windmill End.....
  • Re: Poem ideas please!
    by Account Closed at 08:09 on 25 June 2013
    Sorry, late to this, but TS Eliot has a lovely one in his Old Possum's book of Practicsl Cats. It's called something like Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat and it's about a cat who is in charge of the Flying Scotsman train.

    It's really fun but do read it a couple of times because there are a couple of places where the rhythm is less than obvious. It works if you get the emphasis right starting out, but not otherwise.

    Edited by FloraPost at 08:11:00 on 25 June 2013
  • Re: Poem ideas please!
    by EmmaD at 10:05 on 25 June 2013
    Oh, yes, that's a lovely one.
  • Re: Poem ideas please!
    by Jem at 12:59 on 25 June 2013
    I remember that "Fasters than Fairies one". I learned it off by heart when I was about 8 and still remember huge chunks. Something to be said for learning by rote. You understand why when you get to my age and the only facts and names you remember well are those you learned as a child.
  • Re: Poem ideas please!
    by Account Closed at 22:16 on 25 June 2013
    There's also the hauntingly lovely/sad "Yes, I remember Adlestrop" but it might be too muted and oblique for children.