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This Singing World
This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.
- GenresPoetry
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1923
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 12, 2017
On the one hand, there are many poems in here that I remember my grandfather reciting, that I haven't come across elsewhere. On the other hand, there are many poems in here (generally not the same ones!) that are lousy with heedless racism/sexism/imperialism/etc ... which is not surprising given the time period but also yuck.
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May 29, 2025This is a children’s poetry anthology that I imagine played a part in many older people’s childhood, as it did with mine. It’s a book I have history with, so my tattered copy will always have a place on my bookshelf.
When my siblings and I were children, we lived on a homestead in Alaska. There were no roads, power, or infrastructure, so it was the bedrock experience of homesteading. Consequently we all took correspondence school, provided by the state for children such as us. It wasn’t the home-schooling that’s presently popular, which can often have religious or political slants. Our courses came from the Calvert School, which was a classical curriculum. I’m now so appreciative of such an education. We studied Greek and Roman myths, and poetry, among other classes. The Singing World was the primer for the grade school years, and Yesterday and Today, by the same anthologist was for the junior high years. I still have both of course.
I’m aware of the outdated attitudes expressed in some of the poems, and know it would not do as a poetry book for our children today. But many of the poems are classic and beloved by me. What I find, as I age, is that the less appropriate poems didn’t really affect my attitudes growing up. I think when you have parents that are open-minded and non-racist, as ours were, their attitude and influence is a more meaningful example than a poem would be, though this is not to excuse such poems.
Yet, while it was a special part of my life, I can’t really recommend it to a young reader. Besides a benign racism, I would consider a certain amount of the poetry to be outdated, using older language styles and a different sentimentality. I believe its place must give way to a newer generation of children’s poetry anthology, similar to ‘Knock at a Star: A Child's Introduction to Poetry’ by X.J. and
Dorothy M. Kennedy.
When my siblings and I were children, we lived on a homestead in Alaska. There were no roads, power, or infrastructure, so it was the bedrock experience of homesteading. Consequently we all took correspondence school, provided by the state for children such as us. It wasn’t the home-schooling that’s presently popular, which can often have religious or political slants. Our courses came from the Calvert School, which was a classical curriculum. I’m now so appreciative of such an education. We studied Greek and Roman myths, and poetry, among other classes. The Singing World was the primer for the grade school years, and Yesterday and Today, by the same anthologist was for the junior high years. I still have both of course.
I’m aware of the outdated attitudes expressed in some of the poems, and know it would not do as a poetry book for our children today. But many of the poems are classic and beloved by me. What I find, as I age, is that the less appropriate poems didn’t really affect my attitudes growing up. I think when you have parents that are open-minded and non-racist, as ours were, their attitude and influence is a more meaningful example than a poem would be, though this is not to excuse such poems.
Yet, while it was a special part of my life, I can’t really recommend it to a young reader. Besides a benign racism, I would consider a certain amount of the poetry to be outdated, using older language styles and a different sentimentality. I believe its place must give way to a newer generation of children’s poetry anthology, similar to ‘Knock at a Star: A Child's Introduction to Poetry’ by X.J. and
Dorothy M. Kennedy.
July 17, 2013
I got this collection of poetry from my grandpa -an old, falling-apart book from the 1930's- and I really love it! It's got some inspiring classics such as "Ode" by Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy, but there are a bunch of lesser-known poems that are fun or silly. My favorite (other than the limericks) is Paul Lawrence Dunbar's sweet "Lullaby". Includes Rudyard Kipling, Walt Whitman, Lewis Carroll, Poe, Yeats, Tennyson, Frost, etc. And you can read it online for free!
March 21, 2019
Not sure why this doesn't have higher ratings. It's not excellent, but they are poems for children. They are clever and fun. A good read aloud.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews