ABSTRACT
For some thoughts, feelings, observations and ideas poetry, with its appeal to the feelings and imagination, is the perfect medium. Poetry also makes a special contribution to children’s language development as poets use distinctive kinds of language and patterning. Hearing poems read aloud and looking at them on the page leads to an increasing understanding of form. Vocabulary is enriched too, often by the images that are the essence of poetic language. Some words and phrases have a special poetic value because they evoke so powerfully situations, moods, memories, wishes and regrets. The linguistically playful side of some kinds of poetry, nursery rhymes and nonsense verse for example, make it possible for children to find sheer pleasure in manipulating sounds and images. So poetry’s contribution has a lot to do with its appeal to the mind and senses through combining sound, rhythm and images.
