Poetry

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learning with poetry

by Rubens Salles

“Speech is the activity that connects the human being to the world, to the next and to himself, the teacher's role is to beautify and enrich it, including as a counterpoint to the virtual and audiovisual image that increasingly occupies a larger space. in the lives of these children.”

“Children today are given an excess of prosaic language at the expense of poetic language. This excess causes the child to quickly become an adult without being one. Poetry, in turn, strengthens the child, preparing him to deal with the tasks imposed by everyday life”. Luíza Lameirão, Heloísa B. da Costa and Lélia Jenaro also state that “rhythmic speech vitalizes the child and encompasses his own body, acting in the relationship between the rhythm of breathing and that of the pulse. It permeates your inner being. Thus, the artist, with poetry, introduces man into another environment, different from that of prosaic speech.”(1)

In addition to constituting an element of balance and concentration, contents of various subjects can be learned through poetry and playing. Here are some examples of pedagogical poems, written by the poet Ruth Salles:

THE SEED (2)
theme: nature

mysterious seed,
that fell from the plant to the ground,
what secrets does she keep
deep in the heart?

“I am the smallest gift
that was placed in your hand,
because it seems to be nothing
this tiny grain.

But you will see it grow,
in a fruitful season,
a leafy tree
soaring to the breadth!

All the tree, all,
contained the small grain,
waiting for the good moment
to finally get up off the ground.

Worth more than a lot of jewelry
– as you understand then –
the little gift
that has been placed in your hand.”

PRONOUN (3)
Subject: grammar of the Portuguese language

Sometimes, in place of the name,
I put the pronoun,
because he explains if Edu
am I or are you you.
And instead of Manezinho,
It's he that I put on,
and when I dream of Lila,
with Is it over there is that I dream.
And Manezinho, Lila and Edu
then we are we;
André and Bia and Sebastian
I I trade for you.
But I really like one pronoun
– I will say at once –
which I always use instead of the name:
you or you.
– Where is Ed?
–I I am here!
– What about Manezinho?
– He It's there.
- Oh Lila, answer!
You are you going on that tram?
– With this baby?
We let's go by train!
– What about Bea? And Andre?
You are you going on foot?
- Come running
the Sebastian!
– I I'll go with you,
whether they like it or not!

THE RIVER (4)
topic: geography

The river, at the top of the mountain,
snakes when born,
digging deep in the earth
a bed through which to pass.

And changes the turns it takes
and, in this intense work,
between the mountains, here and there,
the immense valley opens.

Sometimes, if the ground is lacking,
your strength unleashes,
and foams and roars and leaps,
falling into a cataract.

Then stronger and wider,
your path is equalizing,
and takes the drag margins
when the mouth is already arriving.

Suddenly: “Where is my ground?”
Suddenly: “Where am I?”
Is that the river, in turmoil,
there in the sea it ended.

And fight like it's
able to win the vacancies,
and a strip of fresh water
the salt of the waves erases.

Finally, after so much war,
in the immense sea spreads.
Will you look for the land?
when does the foam hit the beach?

There is also a large collection of “tongue twisters” poems to exercise diction and beautify speech. Here's an example:

TRUMPET THE STORM (5)
(VF - RR R - LN - TD - SZ - CG - PB - CH J)
theme: nature

The wind comes and goes,
party in the forest,
thin and strong like a razor,
turn the leaf, what a rustle.
Tear the branches and tear them down,
spin, spin around,
wounds the earth and whirls,
uncoiled spiral.

Soon the light of the moon
already nests in a black cloud.
In this mist, the winged moon
there it cancels out and it's nothing.

The storm trumpets,
chain, and descend, and dance,
sings and touches the windowpane.
What a storm! What a change!

A whisper rises and sounds,
a zine buzz and zoa:
is the sound that comes out of the house
that wraps a person.

That house almost fell!
And the place was flooding!
But now the picture calms down,
every drop dries up.

Everything spaces and then passes,
all the fuss goes away.
The haze is already spreading,
the star shines in good time.

How the rain soaks the ground!
I settle down, dripping,
complaining, joking,
relaxing… yawning…

In addition to poems on grammar, geography and nature, there are pedagogical poems on the most diverse topics, about time, animals, Brazilian myths and legends, astronomy, man, etc. A format widely used by Waldorf teachers is rhythmic poems. The rhythms of the different metric feet were studied by Damon, master of Pericles, in ancient Greece, and their application with students can have a therapeutic effect, helping for a harmonious development. As described by Ruth Salles, they are: Jambo, Trocheus, Anapesto, Amphibrachium, Coriambo, Dactyl, Pentameter and Hexameter. Three examples follow. Children walk while declaiming.

Jambo: v____ (short-long). He works by taking the step forward and willingly. It also helps the overly withdrawn child to expand. It retracts on the short syllable and lets go on the long one. We have underlined the long syllables of the first lines here, for easier understanding.

THE PRINCESS AND THE KNIGHT (6)

There go O heregolawro well monOKfrom in your colorcell.
It gallops very quickly with a feather in its hat.
The valleys have already descended and the mountains have already risen.
In the tower of a castle the princess smiled at him.
"Good good! I know he came to save me,
take me out of this tower, where I was crying.
That sorceress really bewitched me:
imprisoned me in this tower, without pity or pity.
Dear knight, what courage he has!
Jumped the deep ditch and at the foot of the wall comes.
I let go of my hair, and it goes up through them.
The enchantment has been broken, and the doors are opening!
Farewell to the sorceress, my beloved saved me,
mounted his horse, on the back he sat me!”
And off they go now, he and she, galloping.
With this knight the princess will marry!

Swapped: ___v (long-short). It is a slow rhythm that helps and supports the fluidity of speech. Helps the overly expansive child to focus. It loosens up on the long syllable and retracts on the short syllable.

THE SPIDER (7)

ubut tofrognah youce to yougo,
half a turn and a half turn;

let go of the thread and jump there,
go back and forth here.

Without a ruler or square,
already reinforces the picture.

Within it she weaves,
spins, spins and goes up and down.

how it shines lacy
this unfinished web!

For still a thread now
comes out of the web.

In that long line,
behold the hidden spider!

When the thread shakes well,
she knows she already has

there in the web a prey
for your dessert.

Anapesto: vv___ (short-short-long). Release the tongue. It opens listening and awakens the look. The rhythm carries us, releasing us from our limitations. It works in the same way as the jambo, only more slowly.

BEM-TE-VI (8)

welcomesaw grandmotherair, the dogtar in the jardim,
he says he saw me, that he saw me just like this:
with basket and hat and with rod and hook,
going to the river to fish on this sunny day.

Well I saw you well he saw me and he flew and he flew
and on the bank of the river it landed on a branch.
And hooting loudly, he sang again,
for sure to the little fish wanting to warn

who saw me just like that, with a wand and a hook,
going to the river to fish on this sunny day.
What was the casting worth of the line?
The little fish saw me and ran away swimming.