K-3 Poems & Quotes

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Alfred, Lord Tennyson / Sept. 8

The Eagle

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

Edna St. Vincent Millay / Sept. 15

First Fig

My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes and oh, my friends—
It gives a lovely light.

Henry David Thoreau / Sept. 22

My Life Has Been the Poem

My life has been the poem I would have writ,
But I could not both live and utter it.

Nursery Rhyme / Sept. 29

A Wise Old Owl

A wise old owl lived in an oak
The more he saw the less he spoke
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?

Lewis Carroll / Oct. 6

Beautiful Soup

BEAUTIFUL Soup, so rich and green, 
Waiting in a hot tureen! 
Who for such dainties would not stoop? 
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup! 
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!

Beau--ootiful Soo-oop! 
Beau--ootiful Soo-oop! 
Soo--oop of the e--e--evening, 
Beautiful, beautiful Soup!

Beautiful Soup! Who cares for fish, 
Game, or any other dish? 
Who would not give all else for two 
Pennyworth only of Beautiful Soup? 
Pennyworth only of beautiful Soup?

Beau--ootiful Soo-oop! 
Beau--ootiful Soo-oop! 
Soo--oop of the e--e--evening, 
Beautiful, beauti--FUL SOUP!

Lewis Carroll / Oct. 13

How doth the little crocodile...

How doth the little crocodile 
Improve his shining tail, 
And pour the waters of the Nile 
On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin 
How neatly spreads his claws, 
And welcomes little fishes in, 
With gently smiling jaws! 

Christina Rossetti / Oct. 19

Caterpillar

Brown and furry
Caterpillar in a hurry,
Take your walk
To the shady leaf, or stalk,
Or what not,
Which may be the chosen spot.
No toad spy you,
Hovering bird of prey pass by you;
Spin and die,
To live again a butterfly.

Jonathan Swift

AEIOU

We are very little creatures,
All of different voice and features;
One of us in glass is set,
One of us you'll find in jet.
T'other you may see in tin,
And the fourth a box within.
If the fifth you should pursue,
It can never fly from you.

Emily Dickinson

Fame is a Bee

Fame is a bee.
   It has a song—
It has a sting—
   Ah, too, it has a wing.

Emily Dickinson

I'm Nobody

I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you — Nobody — Too?
Then there 's a pair of us?
Don't tell! they'd advertise — you know.

How dreary — to be — Somebody!
How public — like a Frog —
To tell one's name — the livelong June —
To an admiring Bog!

Emily Dickinson

A Word is Dead

A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.