Children's verse

Posted by Henry on February 04, 2004

In Reply to: The Deserted Village posted by ESC on February 03, 2004

: : : : : Hi

: : : : : I know this is probably the rong place to try but here goes anyway. I am trying to find a poem I read in school in Scotland. It was about a Hawthorne tree and a babbling brook. I cant remember the author or title, ( big help). It is quite important as my mother in law read the same poem and loved it but she is very poorly at the moment and I would love to find it for her. so if there are any old or new English teachers out there that can help I would be very grateful. Thanks anyway.

: : : : : Lorna

: : : : I am in the U.S. I collect children's poetry books and have several old ones. So if someone has a clue to the title and can't locate it online, I'd be glad to try and find it.

: : : Here's a babbling brook but no hawthorn!
: : : The Brook by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

: : : I come from haunts of coot and hern,
: : : I make a sudden sally
: : : And sparkle out among the fern,
: : : To bicker down a valley.

: : : By thirty hills I hurry down,
: : : Or slip between the ridges,
: : : By twenty thorpes, a little town,
: : : And half a hundred bridges.

: : : Till last by Philip's farm I flow
: : : To join the brimming river,
: : : For men may come and men may go,
: : : But I go on for ever.

: : : I chatter over stony ways,
: : : In little sharps and trebles,
: : : I bubble into eddying bays,
: : : I babble on the pebbles.

: : : With many a curve my banks I fret
: : : By many a field and fallow,
: : : And many a fairy foreland set
: : : With willow-weed and mallow.

: : : I chatter, chatter, as I flow
: : : To join the brimming river,
: : : For men may come and men may go,
: : : But I go on for ever.

: : : I wind about, and in and out,
: : : With here a blossom sailing,
: : : And here and there a lusty trout,
: : : And here and there a grayling,

: : : And here and there a foamy flake
: : : Upon me, as I travel
: : : With many a silvery waterbreak
: : : Above the golden gravel,

: : : And draw them all along, and flow
: : : To join the brimming river
: : : For men may come and men may go,
: : : But I go on for ever.

: : : I steal by lawns and grassy plots,
: : : I slide by hazel covers;
: : : I move the sweet forget-me-nots
: : : That grow for happy lovers.

: : : I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,
: : : Among my skimming swallows;
: : : I make the netted sunbeam dance
: : : Against my sandy shallows.

: : : I murmur under moon and stars
: : : In brambly wildernesses;
: : : I linger by my shingly bars;
: : : I loiter round my cresses;

: : : And out again I curve and flow
: : : To join the brimming river,
: : : For men may come and men may go,
: : : But I go on for ever.

: : From The Deserted Village by Oliver Goldsmith

: : Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain,
: : Where health and plenty cheered the labouring swain,
: : Where smiling spring its earliest visits paid,
: : And parting summer's lingering blooms delayed:
: : Dear lovely bowers of innocence and ease,
: : Seats of my youth, where every sport could please,
: : How often have I loitered o'er your green,
: : Where humble happiness endeared each scene;
: : How often have I paused on every charm,
: : The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm,
: : The never-failing brook, the busy mill,
: : The decent church that topped the neighbouring hill,
: : The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade,
: : For talking age and whispering lovers made;

: I wonder if Ms. Cooper is going to come back and tell us if that's the one.

ESC; In case it may interest you, here's a reply kindly sent to me last year from Skokie, Illinois, which claims to be the largest village in the world;

Our children's librarians have tracked down the answer to your question. Rosemary Wells did indeed write a poem entitled "Skokie". It's
in a book entitled _Don't Spill It Again, James_, published by Dial Press, copyright 1977. The illustrations are charming: the characters are two brothers taking the train to Skokie. The poem goes like this:

"We're on our way to Skokie.
Everything is Okey-Dokey.
I've got the money.
You've got the lunch.
We've got our presents
In a great big bunch.

We're on our way to Skokie.
Everything is very smoky.
You start to choke.
I start to wheeze.
Open up the window
And let's all freeze.

We're on our way to Skokie.
This train is very poky.
But never you mind.
Let's see a smile,
And we'll get to Skokie in style!"

• L'Allegro by John Milton Henry 04/February/04