Extending our work on book reviews, Class 5 are going to learn and recite some of Roald Dahl’s poems. Now that we have read, discussed, analysed and reviewed some of his classic books we are going to look at some of his poems in more detail. Click here to find lots of examples his poems. Your task is to choose one poem (you may recognise some of the poems, like ‘Pure Imagination’, as songs in film adaptations of the books) and learn it before Thursday’s and Friday’s lessons. You will need to think about the meaning of the poem, as well as it’s theme (is it humourous or frightening for example). Refer to the target audience as well, just like we did with our book reviews.
During the lessons, we will focus on ‘Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf’ as an example. Make sure you choose a different poem to learn and recite, as you will be writing your own poem review (on Thursday) and reciting your own poem to an audience (on Friday).
Before you choose your own poem to focus on, practice reciting the poem below, thinking about the theme of the poem and how that should influence your performance – for example if it’s humourous then it needs to be performed in a humourous manner. Try out your recital on someone at home!
Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf
As soon as Wolf began to feel
That he would like a decent meal,
He went and knocked on Grandma’s door.
When Grandma opened it, she saw
The sharp white teeth, the horrid grin,
And Wolfie said, ‘May I come in?’
Poor Grandmamma was terrified,
‘He’s going to eat me up!’ she cried.
And she was absolutely right.
He ate her up in one big bite.
But Grandmamma was small and tough,
And Wolfie wailed, ‘That’s not enough!
I haven’t yet begun to feel
That I have had a decent meal!’
He ran around the kitchen yelping,
‘I’ve got to have a second helping!’
I was off school and didn’t perform my poem so here it is:
“Mary, Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?”
“I live with my brat in a high rise flat,
So how in the world would I know!”
I have seen some of Roald Dahl poems and my favourite was ” Your teacher is not as nice as yours seems to be”.
It goes like this:
Your teacher is not as nice as yours seems to be
His name was Mister Unsworth and he taught us history
And if you didn’t know the date he’d grab you by the ear
And start to twist while you sat there quite paralysed with fear
He’d twist and twist and twist your ear and twist it more and more.
Until at last the ear came off and landed on the floor.
Our class was full of one-eared boys. I’m certain there were eight.
Who’d had them twisted off because they didn’t know a date.
So let us now praise teachers who today are all so fine
And yours in particular is totally divine.
I read most of the poems to my parents, but the one that made them laugh the most was ‘I want it now’ because my dad said that Veruca is just like me! Whereas my mum said that Veruca is just like my elder brother Ismile.
I really enjoyed learning about Roald Dahl’s poetic side and had great fun trying to learn one:
I Want It Now
By Roald Dahl
Gooses,geese
I want my geese to lay gold eggs for Easter
At least 100 a day
And by the way
I want a feast
I want a bean feast
Cream buns and doughnuts
And fruitcake with no nuts
So good you cold go nuts
No, Now
I want a ball
I want a party
Pink macaroons and 1million balloons
And performing baboons
Give it to me now