Post by mikef6 on May 12, 2018 20:23:40 GMT
The authors of “The Dangerous Book for Boys” (2007) feel that young males growing up today spend too much time indoors instead of outside engaged in what, until recent years, were typical pursuits and interests of boys. So they wrote this book to tell about such things as fishing, how to make tripwires, the golden age of pirates, star maps, building a tree house, famous battles, and extraordinary true stories. There is a very short chapter on girls (best advice: Excitable bouts of wind breaking will not endear you to a girl). But they also say, “Girls are as nervous around you as you are around them,” something that I have personally NEVER observed.
Anyway, one chapter is titled “7 poems every boy should know.”
The book’s choices are:
"If" by Rudyard Kipling
“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe (rhymes with “fish”) Shelly
"Song Of Myself" by Walt Whitman
“Invictus” by William Ernest Henley
“Vitae Lampada” by Sir Henry Newbolt
"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost
"Sea Fever" by John Mansfield
Not a bad list. “Vitae Lampada” is the only one I was not familiar with and thus seems the least of the bunch, probably because of unfamiliarity.
If I were to make a list of my own, I would keep two from the “Dangerous Book” list”
My first choice would be Invictus. This short (16 lines) poem of defiance and affirmation in the face of life’s tragedies has been very influential, plus it really packs a punch. It could be said to make a good case for the ancient manly arts of stoicism and not crying.
Next, is Shelly’s Ozymandias. It has been a favorite of mine since my own boyhood.
My New Choices
For Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” I would sub Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening for its picture of solitary reflection.
Fourth, "The Charge Of The Light Brigade" by Alfred Tennyson. One of the best poems on war – its heroism as well as its futility in pulse pounding verse.
Fifth, "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe. Mysterious and spooky. All guys love it.
Sixth, "Casey At The Bat" by Ernest Lawrence Thayer. The greatest sports poem ever.
Seventh, "anyone lived in a pretty how town by e.e. cummings. There should be one poem about love. This one practically screams: “Read Me Out Loud!”
P.S. another Tennyson poem could be used as an alternate to “The Charge Of The Light Brigade.” It is Ulysses
There was also a “Dangerous Book For Girls” but I haven’t read it and don’t know if there is a Poems For Girls chapter. If anyone would like to give a list of Poems For Girls on this thread or start a new one of your own, feel free.
Anyway, one chapter is titled “7 poems every boy should know.”
The book’s choices are:
"If" by Rudyard Kipling
“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe (rhymes with “fish”) Shelly
"Song Of Myself" by Walt Whitman
“Invictus” by William Ernest Henley
“Vitae Lampada” by Sir Henry Newbolt
"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost
"Sea Fever" by John Mansfield
Not a bad list. “Vitae Lampada” is the only one I was not familiar with and thus seems the least of the bunch, probably because of unfamiliarity.
If I were to make a list of my own, I would keep two from the “Dangerous Book” list”
My first choice would be Invictus. This short (16 lines) poem of defiance and affirmation in the face of life’s tragedies has been very influential, plus it really packs a punch. It could be said to make a good case for the ancient manly arts of stoicism and not crying.
Next, is Shelly’s Ozymandias. It has been a favorite of mine since my own boyhood.
My New Choices
For Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” I would sub Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening for its picture of solitary reflection.
Fourth, "The Charge Of The Light Brigade" by Alfred Tennyson. One of the best poems on war – its heroism as well as its futility in pulse pounding verse.
Fifth, "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe. Mysterious and spooky. All guys love it.
Sixth, "Casey At The Bat" by Ernest Lawrence Thayer. The greatest sports poem ever.
Seventh, "anyone lived in a pretty how town by e.e. cummings. There should be one poem about love. This one practically screams: “Read Me Out Loud!”
P.S. another Tennyson poem could be used as an alternate to “The Charge Of The Light Brigade.” It is Ulysses
There was also a “Dangerous Book For Girls” but I haven’t read it and don’t know if there is a Poems For Girls chapter. If anyone would like to give a list of Poems For Girls on this thread or start a new one of your own, feel free.
