Bells and Grass

by Walter de la Mare, Dorothy P Lathrop (Illustrator)

Here are more than 100 poems for children by Walter de la Mare, with an introduction by the author - a poem in itself - telling how he came to rhyme again in this, a time so alien to his particular magic.

Genres: Poetry

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1941

About the author

Walter John de la Mare was an English poet, short story writer and novelist. He is probably best remembered for his works for children, for his poem "The Listeners", and for his psychological horror short fiction, including "Seaton's Aunt" and "All Hallows". In 1921, his novel Memoirs of a Midget won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction, and his post-war Collected Stories for Children won the 1947 Carnegie Medal for British children's books.

Reviews

[Martyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disappointing. I read all the rhymes aloud but found them neither entertaining nor beautiful. Sometimes even when I find a poem incomprehensible it can at least sound pleasant to the ear when read aloud, or just feel very satisfying to articulate. But though these rhymes were perfectly intelligible they have little else to commend them. When I think of verses for children I think of A.A.Milne (When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six) and Marion St.John Webb (The Littlest One series) – simple, evocative, engaging, often amusing or moving, looking at the world through a child's eyes. But I found none of that here – nothing amusing or moving, no interesting narratives, it's all rather bland and dull.

[Libycoq · Rating 2 out of 5]

highly gerontic jingles to drive you stircrazy. Incidentally, Dorothy Lathrop’s illustrations here make me want to puke.