ABSTRACT
An important body of contemporary research on children's literature explores the relationships between the characteristics of texts, the readers’ response to the texts, and the relationship of these to education, notably reading skills. Both the theory and the practice has centred around the reading and teaching of poetry, an aspect of children's literature frequently neglected. One reason for this may well be the rift between the concept of poetry inside and outside the classroom. As Alan Tucker, himself a poet, has noted:
When we come to express emotion, to write down even the simplest thing, we quickly find that language is pitiless. Children should not be led into the front line of a language-governed society believing that if only they feel strongly enough the words will come to them…. Contemporary academic poetry (which is most modern poetry) deliberately eschews the content-laden poetry (and idea of poetry) prevalent in school teaching. (Tucker 1989:108)
