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Articles /Interviews
Children’s Poetry and
The making of a good poem
An Interview with Popular British poet
Philip Bell
by Dr. Amitabh Mitra
1. You are an
Environmental Engineer based in UK and have been writing poetry for children
and adults. When did you start writing poetry for children? My daughter who
is 9 years old was sitting with me when I was reciting your poems. She has
quickly picked up your poems and recites them now and then. Your poems have
a lyric and a rhyme. They can be sung and recited. Let us know about your
experience in children’s poetry movement in the UK.
 I
started writing poetry seriously in 1984 at the age of 36 and was
already blessed with three children. I had always enjoyed reading
stories and poetry to my children but it was my daughter that stretched
my imagination to start writing for children. She was quite demanding
with her "Read me another story, daddy" or "Read me another poem,
daddy". Soon I was running out of books and decided to make up some
stories and poems for her.
It was many years later though, when I shared my poetry with other
children and discovered that they too seemed to enjoy my rhymes. I also
at this time discovered how important rhyme and meter was for children.
As much as I was writing, I was also listening. Listening to childhood
playground verse that my daughter and her friends would share with me.
Passed down and sometimes adapted from many past generations, they were
rich in rhyme and meter.
Children also delight in 'made-up' words that are sometimes difficult to
pronounce, in the same way as we describe tongue-twister rhymes. How I
enjoyed sharing these delights with the children that surrounded me. I
really felt as if I had re-discovered the child within me and determined
not to let that feeling go.
I was also fortunate in being asked to share my verse in poetry projects
in schools and was interested to learn that quite young children had
amazing grasp of ideas when presented within poetry. This awakened my
memories of early childhood and how poetry was a great part of my life
from a very early age.
Your request to learn about my experience in the children's poetry
movement in the UK touched on a sad element of literature in general
here. Whilst there are exceptions within some schools, I am concerned
that the modern curriculum for primary education, does not allow the
time for the appreciation of poetry. All too often it is considered a
non-essential element of the education. Yet, in addition to learning the
basic skills of reading, writing and the foundation elements of
mathematics, children so desperately need inspiration to excite their
imagination. The introduction in secondary education is too late for
many and can turn a joy into a chore.
2. Being a qualified
professional and having published a lot of technical papers, does writing
children’s poetry give you an outlet and yet a challenging task to create
something magical?
Oh yes,
indeed. It would be wrong to give the impression that writing technical
papers does not call for creativity, but it is creativity in a different
form. Based on adherence to analytical proof and the study of facts, it
has no room for wild supposition or plain fantasy.
We all learn from a tender age that gravity keeps our feet firmly on the
ground, yet in our dreams we can free ourselves from all the physical
constraints. If we are free from natural laws, then anything is
possible, and it removes the chains, which bind us.
The pragmatist may disapprove of a child's fantasy world and it may be
true that it is possible to overstep the boundary between reality and
fantasy. I do believe however, that removing fantasy completely would be
immensely damaging, as it would affect a persons ability to challenge
existing knowledge and thus learn more of our universe. Perhaps this is
the gift that we were given that truly advances mankind.
Such an attitude can benefit writing for children and adults alike. If
we lose understanding of this then we cannot complain if the adult
audience turns away from our writing. How true is it that adults so
often enjoy reading stories or poetry to children for their own sake.
When at a craft fair I read to children – my adult audience is there in
the background, with big smiles on their faces.
3. I suddenly remembered
the lines of Sir Walter Scott in Lady of the Lake ‘Oh Caledonia, Stern and
Wild, Land of my Sires… Your poems have a beautiful mythological background,
does that relate to your days in school and your love for mythology?
In primary
school, I was very fortunate to have several teachers that clearly
enjoyed poetry and would sit us down as a class and ready from many of
the great poets.
To understand my love of poetry and mythology I have to recall the
sequence that perhaps sowed the seeds in my mind. Few of the poems that
we were read would be regarded strictly as children's poems, yet they
most certainly were.
The first of these was "Cargoes" by John Masefield.
Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir,
Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
With a cargo of ivory,
And apes and peacocks,
Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.
Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,
Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,
With a cargo of diamonds,
Emeralds, amythysts,
Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores.
Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,
Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,
With a cargo of Tyne coal,
Road-rails, pig-lead,
Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.
As a small child, I couldn't fully understand all the words, but with a
little help from the teacher, it sparked my imagination.
The list of poets would be far too extensive to present here, but they
all helped to extend this desire to seek out more poems and stories.
Soon as I grew older, I was introduced to classical tales from Greek and
Roman Mythology wondering at the imagination of the writers of such
tales. Closer to home I realized that within my own country, there was
local folklore and legends that would fill my life with an almost
inexhaustible supply of stories and inspiration.
How could all this not influence me?
4. Children’s poetry in
English in India is still in its infancy. How do you view the children’s
literature movement globally and its fusion with art, music, drama and
films?
Fragmented at
best.
We are continually battling with imposed ideas from misguided although
possibly well meaning literary figures. Whilst my argument applies
across all forms of literature, poetry has been affected more than
anything.
Here in the UK, the poetry 'establishment' has done more to damage this
art and craft than they might ever admit to. In the move to encourage
free verse as the acceptable face of poetry, they systematically set out
to destroy rhyming poetry. The publishing fraternity would describe any
efforts to rhyme as 'forced' and apart from a handful of children's
publishers would generally refuse to handle any poetry that rhymed.
Now I have to stop here and say that I am not against free verse. Indeed
I write free verse myself. However, the damage was done when such
attitudes effectively destroyed the process by which children could
learn rhyme and meter and in so doing removed a basic skill by which
even where it was not necessary, free verse would suffer from a lack of
meter in the presentation of poetic thought.
I describe poetry as both an art and a craft. The art of poetry comes
from within and is influenced by our surroundings and the inspiration
that we receive. The craft is learnt over a period of time. Learnt from
reading, from understanding form, the construction of words and
sentences from basic syllables and the use of meter.
Removing either art or craft from the equation reduces the end quality
of a poem. A poem does not have to rhyme, but the craft learned from
form, rhyme and meter will enhance the free verse.
In addressing the fusion with art, music, drama and films I am concerned
that the mass media approach is concerned more with making money than
being concerned with the art and craft that lies behind the media.
When a children's writer is assessed on whether his 'characters' can
provide secondary industries for merchandise, it may make economic
sense, but it would be wrong to think this has anything to do with the
foundation of literature. If you look at the western 'manufactured'
music for example, you quickly realize that it discourages the real
musician. Maybe our society is poisoning literary gifts in the same way.
5. You have written a
collection of beautiful love poems, off course in rhyme, I almost thought
that they can be used by record companies for launching new voices. What is
your opinion of contemporary Indian poetry and British poetry of today?
My love of
poetry has led me to explore poetry from around the world and my only
sorrow is that I am not a linguist and find learning a new language
difficult. I have on many occasions said that if I could be granted one
magic wish, it would be to understand all languages both in the written
word and in the spoken word.
With respect to Indian poetry, I have to rely on those Indian poets that
write in English. A simple translation may not carry the original well
into a different language and culture. What I can say is that when I
have read the English Language poetry from those of an Indian culture I
am truly touched by the beauty in the majority of poems that I have
read.
Defining contemporary may be different for Indian Poetry than for
British Poetry in that I feel that Indian contemporary poetry has not
lost its links with the past and retains substantially the craft. The
art may change with time and as culture draws in influences from
modernism and our global community.
British contemporary poetry and there are exceptions to this, is more
extreme in its attempts to sever itself from the past and in so doing
loses the craft.
Poetry by Philip G. Bell
February 26, 2006
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