Linguistic Development through

POETRY MEMORIZATION
Blackline Masters

by Andrew Pudewa

Second Edition, February 2016

Institute for Excellence in Writing, L.L.C.
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Copyright Policy
Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization
Second Edition, February 2016
Copyright © 2005, 2016 Andrew Pudewa

Our duplicating/copying policy for these Blackline Masters:

All rights reserved.

This downloadable PDF file (e-book) is for use by the original purchaser only. Ownership may not be
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permission of the author, except as provided by U.S.A. copyright law and the specific policy below.

Poems that are not in the public domain have been reprinted herein under agreement and/or given
proper permissions.

“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” from THE POETRY OF ROBERT FROST edited by Edward
Connery Lathem. Copyright 1923, 1969 by Henry Holt and Company. Copyright 1951 by Robert Frost.
Reprinted by permission of Henry Holt and Company, L.L.C.

Home use: The purchaser of the accompanying Teacher’s Manual may print this Blackline Masters
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Acknowledgments
Many thanks to all who assisted in the concept and creation of this program,
especially:

Harold Pudewa and Marcia McCarry, whose excellent parenting gave me a love
for poetry and aptitude with language, enabling me to do the work I do today.

My wife, Robin Pudewa, and all my children, whose enthusiasm for this project
gave me the confidence and energy to see it to completion.

Maria Gerber, Julie Marie Ash, Lori Brians, Peter Buscemi, Genevieve Pudewa
Priest, and several others, whose research, input, and careful editing contributed
greatly to the finished product.

Jill Pike, author of IEW’s Primary Arts of Language (PAL) and a personal friend,
who contributed tremendously to this Second Edition with speech annotations
and lesson enhancements.

Michael Rabb, a talented homeschooled musician, who graciously provided the

piano chimes for the audio recordings.

The many teachers, parents, and students who listened in seminars and lectures as
I worked out the concept for this program.

LINGUISTIC DEVELOPMENT THROUGH POETRY MEMORIZATION STUDENT BOOK iii

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Level One

LINGUISTIC DEVELOPMENT THROUGH POETRY MEMORIZATION STUDENT BOOK 3

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 LEVEL ONE

Poems
1. Ooey Gooey author unknown 7
2. Celery by Ogden Nash 8
3. The Little Man Who Wasn’t There by Hughes Mearns 9
4. The Vulture by Hilaire Belloc 10
5. After the Party by William Wise 11
6. Singing Time by Rose Fyleman 12
7. The Yak by Hilaire Belloc 13
8. The Ingenious Little Old Man by John Bennett 14
9. My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson 15
10. There Was an Old Person Whose Habits by Edward Lear 16
11. Jonathan Bing by Beatrice Curtis Brown 17
12. Whole Duty of Children by Robert Louis Stevenson 18
13. Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore by William Brighty Rands 19
14. My Gift by Christina Rossetti 20
15. The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson 21
16. Persevere author unknown 22
17. Who Has Seen the Wind? by Christina Rossetti 23
18. The Eagle by Alfred, Lord Tennyson 24
19. The Swan and the Goose by William Ellery Leonard 25
20. Personal selection 26

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Getting Started with Level One

1. Begin with the first poem, “Ooey Gooey.” Practice all the poems learned every day.
2. Highlight the poem in the list below. Recite the name and author with the poem.
3. Practice daily. Use the audio recording to help you. Break longer poems into sections and
memorize one section at a time.
4. Continue to memorize the poetry in the list, poem by poem. Work at
your own pace. If you miss a day, do not try to do double
the work. Just pick it up where you left off,
5. Every day, recite all the poems you have learned. That is what the and determine to be faithful to the task.
highlighting is for: Recite the highlighted poems daily. Use the
recording to help you.
6. Record your progress on the chart below. A check for the day means
that you recited all the poems that you have highlighted.

1 Ooey Gooey author unknown 13 Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore by William Brighty Rands
2 Celery by Ogden Nash 14 My Gift by Christina Rossetti
3 The Little Man Who Wasn’t There by Hughes Mearns 15 The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson
4 The Vulture by Hilaire Belloc 16 Persevere author unknown
5 After the Party by William Wise 17 Who Has Seen the Wind? by Christina Rossetti
6 Singing Time by Rose Fyleman 18 The Eagle by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
7 The Yak by Hilaire Belloc 19 The Swan and the Goose by William Ellery Leonard
8 The Ingenious Little Old Man by John Bennett 20 Personal selection (8 lines or shorter):
9 My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson
10 There Was an Old Person Whose Habits by Edward Lear __________________________________________
11 Jonathan Bing by Beatrice Curtis Brown
12 Whole Duty of Children by Robert Louis Stevenson

Below, check off the day when you have recited all of the poems you have learned to date.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul

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 LEVEL ONE

1.
Ooey Gooey
AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Ooey Gooey was a worm,

A mighty worm was he.
He stepped upon the railroad tracks,
The train he did not see!
Ooooey Goooey!

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2.
Celery
BY OGDEN NASH

Celery, raw,
Develops the jaw,
But celery, stewed,
Is more quietly chewed.

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 LEVEL ONE

3.
The Little Man Who Wasn’t There
BY HUGHES MEARNS

As I was going up the stair,

I met a man who wasn’t there;
He wasn’t there again today!
I wish, I wish, he’d stay away.

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4.
The Vulture
BY HILAIRE BELLOC

The vulture eats between his meals,

And that’s the reason why
He very, very rarely feels
As well as you or I.
His eye is dull. His head is bald,
His neck is growing thinner,
Oh, what a lesson for us all,
To only eat at dinner!

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 LEVEL ONE

5.
After the Party
BY WILLIAM WISE

Jonathan Blake I’m sorry to state

Ate too much cake, That he also ate
He isn’t himself today; Six pickles, a pie, and a pear;
He’s tucked up in bed In fact I confess
With a feverish head, It’s a reasonable guess
And he doesn’t much care to play. He ate practically everything there.
Jonathan Blake Yes, Jonathan Blake
Ate too much cake, Ate too much cake,
And three kinds of ice cream too— So he’s not at his best today;
From his latest reports But there’s no need for sorrow—
He’s quite out of sorts, If you come back tomorrow,
And I’m sure the reports are true. I’m sure he’ll be out to play.

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6.
Singing Time
BY ROSE FYLEMAN

I wake in the morning early

And always, the very first thing,
I poke out my head and I sit up in bed
And I sing and I sing and I sing.

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 LEVEL ONE

7.
The Yak
BY HILAIRE BELLOC

As a friend to the children, commend me the Yak;

You will find it exactly the thing;
It will carry and fetch, you can ride on its back,
Or lead it about with a string.
The Tartar who dwells on the plains of Tibet
(A desolate region of snow),
Has for centuries made it a nursery pet,
And surely the Tartar should know!
Then tell your papa where the Yak can be got,
And if he is awfully rich,
He will buy you the creature—or else he will not
(I cannot be positive which).

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8.
The Ingenious Little Old Man
BY JOHN BENNETT

A little old man of the sea

Went out in a boat for a sail:
The water came in
Almost up to his chin
And he had nothing with which to bail.
But this little old man of the sea
Just drew out his jack-knife so stout,
And a hole with its blade
In the bottom he made,
So that all of the water ran out.

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 LEVEL ONE

9.
My Shadow
BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,

And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.
The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an India-rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little that there’s none of him at all.
He hasn’t got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close beside me, he’s a coward you can see;
I’d think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!
One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepyhead,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

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10.
There Was an Old Person
Whose Habits
BY EDWARD LEAR

There was an Old Person whose habits

Induced him to feed upon rabbits;
When he’d eaten eighteen,
He turned perfectly green
Upon which he relinquished those habits.

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 LEVEL ONE

11.
Jonathan Bing
BY BEATRICE CURTIS BROWN

Poor old Jonathan Bing

Went out in his carriage to visit the King,
But everyone pointed and said, “Look at that!
Jonathan Bing has forgotten his hat!”
(He’d forgotten his hat!)
Poor old Jonathan Bing
Went home and put on a new hat for the King,
But up by the palace a soldier said, “Hi!
You can’t see the King; you’ve forgotten your tie!”
(He’d forgotten his tie!)
Poor old Jonathan Bing
He put on a beautiful tie for the King,
But when he arrived an Archbishop said, “Ho!
You can’t come to court in pyjamas, you know!”
Poor old Jonathan Bing
Went home and addressed a short note to the King:
If you please will excuse me
I won’t come to tea;
For home’s the best place for
All people like me!

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12.
Whole Duty of Children
BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

A child should always say what’s true

And speak when he is spoken to,
And behave mannerly at table;
At least as far as he is able.

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 LEVEL ONE

13.
Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore
BY WILLIAM BRIGHTY RANDS

Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore—

No doubt you have heard the name before—
Was a boy who never would shut a door!
The wind might whistle, the wind might roar,
And teeth be aching and throats be sore,
But still he never would shut the door.
His father would beg, his mother implore,
“Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore,
We really do wish you would shut the door!”
Their hands they wrung, their hair they tore;
But Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore
Was deaf as the buoy out at the Nore.
When he walked forth the folks would roar,
“Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore,
Why don’t you think to shut the door?”
They rigged out a Shutter with sail and oar,
And threatened to pack off Gustavus Gore
On a voyage of penance to Singapore,
But he begged for mercy, and said, “No more!
Pray do not send me to Singapore
On a Shutter, and then I will shut the door!”
“You will?” said his parents; “then keep on shore!
But mind you do! For the plague is sore
Of a fellow that never will shut the door,
Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore!”

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14.
My Gift
BY CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

What can I give Him

Poor as I am;
If I were a shepherd,
I would give Him a lamb.
If I were a wise man,
I would do my part.
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give my heart.

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 LEVEL ONE

15.
The Swing
BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

How do you like to go up in a swing,

Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall,
’Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside—
’Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown—
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!

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16.
Persevere
AUTHOR UNKNOWN

The fisher who draws in his net too soon,

Won’t have any fish to sell;
The child who shuts up his book too soon,
Won’t learn any lessons well.
If you would have your learning stay,
Be patient—don’t learn too fast;
The man who travels a mile each day,
May get ’round the world at last.

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 LEVEL ONE

17.
Who Has Seen the Wind?
BY CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Who has seen the wind?

Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads
The wind is passing by.

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18.
The Eagle
BY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands.
Ringed with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls.
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

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 LEVEL ONE

19.
The Swan and the Goose
BY WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD

A rich man bought a Swan and Goose—

That for song, and this for use.
It chanced his simple-minded cook
One night the Swan for Goose mistook.
But in the dark about to chop
The Swan in two above the crop,
He heard the lyric note, and stayed
The action of the fatal blade.
And thus we see a proper tune
Is sometimes very opportune.

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20.
Personal selection
Copy or attach your personal selection choice onto this page.

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CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION
This certifies that

has successfully completed the memorization

and presentation requirements for

LEVEL ONE OF
Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization

DATE SU PERV I SOR