Top 5 Poems for Primary School

Celebrate National Poetry Day

We don’t really need an excuse to enjoy poetry, but today gives us the perfect opportunity to share with you some of our favourite children’s poems!

At West End In Schools we have lists (long, long lists) of poems we love, but we’ve whittled it down to just five, and this year we’ve been working on transforming these five fantastic rhymes into specially created drama workshops. These fun, descriptive verses provide plenty of opportunities to get creative. So without further ado, here’s our top 5 children’s poems…

THE RUM TUM TUGGER – T. S. Eliot

This finicky cat is hard to please and always wants what he can’t have! (sound like anyone you know?!)

“Yes the Rum Tum Tugger is a Curious Cat—

And there isn't any use for you to doubt it:

For he will do

As he do do

And there's no doing anything about it!”

THE SONG OF THE MISCHIEVOUS DOG – Dylan Thomas

A silly poem that children of all ages will love! After all I think we can agree that the image of red donkeys and horses in nests makes us all smile.

“There are many who say that a dog has its day,

And a cat has a number of lives;

There are others who think that a lobster is pink,

And that bees never work in their hives.”

THE TYGER – William Blake

An iconic poem from this Romantic poet, Tyger paints the picture of this ferocious animal in all its majesty.

“Tyger Tyger burning bright,

In the forests of the night:

What immortal hand or eye,

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”

NUT TREE – Julia Donaldson

Science, dance, literacy … ‘Nut Tree’ ticks all our cross-curricula boxes!

“Now a shoot begins to show. Now the shoot begins to grow.

Tall, taller, tall as can be, The shoot is growing into a tree.”

PEOPLE NEED PEOPLE – Benjamin Zephaniah

Friendship, family, love and shared humanity. I will leave you with a few lines from Zephaniah that we should always keep in mind…

“People need people,

To walk to

To talk to

To cry and rely on,

People will always need people.

To love and to miss

To hug and to kiss.

It’s useful to have other people.”

Looking to explore these poems through another medium such as drama? Take a look at our new Poetry Explorer drama workshops.

-Katie

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