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Can anyone recommend an age-appropriate poem for a 10-year-old to recite for a drama exam?

74 replies

ILikTheBred · 06/02/2020 20:10

DS (10) has to pick a poem to recite for his school drama exam next month. We have been googling but nothing seems to appeal to him. Can anyone recommend a not-too-long poem for a nervous 10-year-old ? Would welcome any suggestions! Thanks

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Callimanco · 06/02/2020 20:58

How about this one?

Can anyone recommend an age-appropriate poem for a 10-year-old to recite for a drama exam?
oatmilk4breakfast · 06/02/2020 20:59

Skimblehanks is good or look at something by Michael Rosen - lots of funny ones (catch me if you can) or the collection Quick let’s get out of here

Callimanco · 06/02/2020 21:00

Just noticed a typo, it should say "to strive for extraordinary lives" in the second line (my phone just autocorrected strive to arrive when I wrote that!)

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Lordfrontpaw · 06/02/2020 21:01

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

NameChange84 · 06/02/2020 21:01

The Bully Asleep is a good, thought provoking one if you can get the emotion right.

Emma Hackett’s Newsbook is funny.

Or you could go with something with universal impact like If by Rudyard Kipling or Invictus.

EggysMom · 06/02/2020 21:01

The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God (I won't quote it, Google brings up the poem). Whilst quite long, it's got a good storyline that helps you to remember the full poem.

NameChange84 · 06/02/2020 21:02

Please Mrs Butler is also funny.

Callimanco · 06/02/2020 21:03

Agh sorry ignore that earlier poem I posted it is full of errors.
Trying again....

Can anyone recommend an age-appropriate poem for a 10-year-old to recite for a drama exam?
FannyAnne64 · 06/02/2020 21:04

The owl and the pussycat by Edward Lear

AdaColeman · 06/02/2020 21:04

John Masefield, Sea Fever (not too long, with strong rhymes & rhythm to help)
Robert Louis Stevenson is worth a look, maybe From a Railway Carriage, has a narrative to help with learning it.
Walter de la Mare, maybe a section from one of his Seasons poems?

mathanxiety · 06/02/2020 21:04

The Early Bird by Shel Silverstein.
Three lines, very funny.

Seriously though.. there's one about a cat's mysterious name which I will look up as soon as I get home.

AtMyDesk · 06/02/2020 21:04

The Owl and the Pussycat

Lordfrontpaw · 06/02/2020 21:05

Nature
Henry David Thoreau

O Nature! I do not aspire
To be the highest in thy choir, -
To be a meteor in thy sky,
Or comet that may range on high;
Only a zephyr that may blow
Among the reeds by the river low;
Give me thy most privy place
Where to run my airy race.

In some withdrawn, unpublic mead
Let me sigh upon a reed,
Or in the woods, with leafy din,
Whisper the still evening in:
Some still work give me to do, -
Only - be it near to you!

For I’d rather be thy child
And pupil, in the forest wild,
Than be the king of men elsewhere,
And most sovereign slave of care;
To have one moment of thy dawn,
Than share the city’s year forlorn.

Icantreachthepretzels · 06/02/2020 21:06

‘The Visitor’, by Ian Serraillier
A crumbling churchyard, the sea and the moon;
The waves had gouged out grave and bone;
A man was walking, late and alone…
He saw a skeleton on the ground;
A ring on a bony finger he found.
He ran home to his wife and gave her the ring.
“Oh, where did you get it?” He said not a thing.
“It’s the loveliest ring in the world,” she said,
As it glowed on her finger. They slipped off to bed.
At midnight they woke. In the dark outside,
“Give me my ring!” a chill voice cried.
“What was that, William? What did it say?”
“Don’t’ worry, my dear. It’ll soon go away.”
“I’m coming!” A skeleton opened the door.
“Give me my ring!” It was crossing the floor.
“What was that, William? What did it say?”
“Don’t’ worry, my dear. It’ll soon go away.”
“I’m reaching you now! I’m climbing the bed.”
The wife pulled the sheet right over her head.
It was torn from her grasp and tossed in the air:
“I’ll drag you out of bed by the hair!”
“What was that, William? What did it say?”
“Throw the ring through the window! THROW IT AWAY!”
She threw it. The skeleton leapt from the sill,
Scooped up the ring and clattered downhill,
Fainter… and fainter… Then all was still.

I once had a class of 8 year olds perform this (different groups playing the different parts) they did it brilliantly.

NameChange84 · 06/02/2020 21:07

Hoping these screenshots work

Can anyone recommend an age-appropriate poem for a 10-year-old to recite for a drama exam?
Can anyone recommend an age-appropriate poem for a 10-year-old to recite for a drama exam?
Can anyone recommend an age-appropriate poem for a 10-year-old to recite for a drama exam?
NameChange84 · 06/02/2020 21:08

The Bully Asleep

Can anyone recommend an age-appropriate poem for a 10-year-old to recite for a drama exam?
NameChange84 · 06/02/2020 21:08

Oh. Sorry it did work!

AndNoneForGretchenWieners · 06/02/2020 21:15

Granny or Teeth by Spike Milligan

fallfallfall · 06/02/2020 21:19

The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service.
Lovely rhythm.

parietal · 06/02/2020 21:24

There is a great book called 'Poems to Perform' edited by Julia Donaldson - all of them are short & memorable & appropriate to this age group

Redannie118 · 06/02/2020 21:28

This reply has been withdrawn

The OP has privacy concerns, and so we've agreed to take this down now.

Lolimax · 06/02/2020 21:31

Have a look at The Hairy Toe.

PickUpThePieces · 06/02/2020 21:32

Talking Turkeys by Benjamin Zephaniah.
Great fun especially if your DS has a bit of swagger about him !

AdaColeman · 06/02/2020 21:34

Another vote for Pam Ayers especially “I wish I’d looked after my teeth”.

ILikTheBred · 06/02/2020 21:34

Oh gosh these are amazing! Thank you all so much. I have had the most wonderful hour getting lost in these fantastic poems. So many memories of poems I had forgotten - jabberwocky, night mail and so many others. So much choice!

Sadly no theme suggested by the school - in previous years the class was given a selection of three poems to pick from - which was definitely easier (for me) than having free choice. Perhaps the drama teacher was getting tired listening to the same poems over and over!

DS is in bed now but we looked at a few together before he went up - he has a quirky sense of humour and burst out laughing at ‘Look after your turkeys this Christmas’. I think he liked the idea of Jabberwocky but was a bit intimidated by it. He has complete stage fright this year so I think anything too long will just freak him out - so we’ll probably focus on shorter poems with some sort of depth or good rhythm.

He’s likely to go for something either very humorous or a bit weird. I can see him liking ‘Matilda who told lies...’ (reminded me of learning Tarentella at school!) and the Ning Nang song. The Fairies by William Allingham also appealed as the rhythm is great, and I think he might like ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ due to the underlying theme. He could possibly like The Poison Tree as - although it deals with anger - he has had anxiety issues in the past and we have spoken about ‘not feeding the worry tree’ so he may see some parallels there.

He also has a fondness for cats so I am googling TS Eliot as I write!

Of course the clear winner is This be the verse Grin Grin

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