April is Poetry Month and April 22nd is Earth Day.
I don’t know about you, but I like to combine things whenever it is convenient as a time saver. Sometimes it can work out quite well to do two or more different subjects together with one lesson. With Earth Day and Poetry Month, you can easily kill two birds with one stone by sharing some poems about the Earth with your children.
How convenient. 🙂
Thankfully, there are some wonderful poems about the Earth and other aspects of God’s creation which are perfect for both Earth Day and Poetry Month.
Here are three classics that I found that you might enjoy using in your homeschool today. I’ve thrown in some discussion questions for you as a bonus.
Classic Poems for Earth Day
The Wonderful World
The Wonderful World
By William Brighty Rands
Great, wide, beautiful, wonderful world,
With the wonderful water round you curled,
And the wonderful grass upon your breast,
World, you are beautifully dressed!
The wonderful air is over me,
And the wonderful wind is shaking the tree;
It walks on the water, and whirls the mills,
And talks to itself on the tops of the hills.
You friendly earth! how far do you go
With the wheat fields that nod, and the rivers that flow?
With cities and gardens, and cliffs, and isles,
And people upon you for thousands of miles?
Ah, you are so great, and I am so small,
I tremble to think of you, World, at all;
And yet, when I said my prayers today,
My mother kissed me, and said, quite gay,
“If the wonderful World is great to you,
And great to Father and Mother too,
You are more than the Earth, though you are such a dot;
You can love and think, and the Earth can not!”
Discussion Questions:
1. What are the beautiful clothes that dress the world?
2. What things does the wind do?
3. Why does the poet say that the Earth is “friendly”?
4. Why are you more wonderful than the world?
Trees
Trees
By Joyce Kilmer
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Discussion Questions:
1. Personification is when an author gives human qualities to something that is not human. Find two examples of personification in this poem.
2. According to the poet, why is a tree more lovely than a poem?
3. How does Kilmer bring glory to God with this poem?
What Do We Plant
What Do We Plant?
By Henry Abbey
What do we plant when we plant the tree?
We plant the ship, which will cross the sea.
We plant the mast to carry the sails;
We plant the planks to withstand the gales —
The keel, the keelson, and beam and knee;
We plant the ship when we plant the tree.
What do we plant when we plant the tree?
We plant the houses for you and me.
We plant the rafters, the shingles, the floors,
We plant the studding, the lath, the doors,
The beams and siding, all parts that be;
We plant the house when we plant the tree.
What do we plant when we plant the tree?
A thousand things that we daily see;
We plant the spire that out-towers the crag,
We plant the staff for our country’s flag,
We plant the shade, from the hot sun free;
We plant all these when we plant the tree.
Discussion Questions:
1. Poetry can sometimes have repeated words or phrases. Which words are repeated in this poem? Why do you think these words are important?
2. Why does the poet believe it is important to plant a tree?
3. What is the rhyme scheme of this poem?
What did you think of these poems and discussion questions? Were they useful for your homeschool? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.
Many blessings,
