How to teach a poem to kids in less than 2 minutes and love every second of it…

Day 8 – 31 Days of Poems for Kids:  The White Horse, by D.H. Lawrence

The simplicity of a moment is what makes poetry so appealing to children, even very young children.

Children “get” the vitality and complexity of simple.  It’s kind of like watching the joy of a child beginning to crawl or walk.  There’s that one silent moment, suspended in space, before everything changes.  You can see it in a child’s eyes.

Today’s poem, THE WHITE HORSE, by 20th century English poet D.H Lawrence, gives us this suspended moment in words.  What happens before and after the moment are nothing compared to that moment of silence that is other-worldly.  Take this little walk today with this poem, the poem’s youth and with your kids…

THE WHITE HORSE by D.H. Lawrence

The youth walks up to the white horse, to put its halter on
and the horse looks at him in silence.
They are so silent they are in another world.

Read the poem with your children.

At first, your children may be waiting for more;  more information or more detail.  Help your children fill in the blanks. 

Here are some questions to ask, to talk about:

Does the youth know the white horse?
How do you know?
Does the white horse know the youth?
What is a halter (a rope or strap that fits around the head or neck of an animal, used to secure or lead it)?
Why is the youth putting a halter on the white horse (travel, work, fun)?
Does the white horse feel safe with the youth?
Does the youth feel safe with the white horse?
Do they love each other?
Has the youth haltered the white horse before?  Many times?
Why are they silent?
Do they understand each other?
Does this silent moment tell us that all is well?
What does it mean to be in another world with each other?
If the white horse could talk, what would he say?

Moments in time are easy for children to visualize.  The youth gently puts the harness on the horse’s neck and the white horse looks at him in wonderful, beautiful, loving silence.  If you have a horse, animal or pet, do your children have experience with these silent moments that are filled with understanding?

Even a child with no experience with animals will be able to capture this silent moment.  Something is about to happen, but it hasn’t happened yet.  Our instincts as human beings are sometimes filled with activity and talk, but our experiences with nature and animals are often more silent because an animal cannot talk, but an animal can feel love…

Enjoy the magical silence of this poetic moment.  Maybe the next moment you zipper or button a little coat, you can pause for a moment and talk about the beautiful silence of that moment… in that silent moment that just happened.

LITERACY/LEARNING/READING are all about the WORDS – Written, Spoken & Felt. Feel the words of D.H. Lawrences’s THE WHITE HORSE with your children today. 

If you enjoyed this poem, you may also enjoy:

Fog, by Carl Sandburg

from Five Haiku, by Paul Eluard

Love is, by Nikki Giovanni

Temple Bell, by Yosa Buson

The Snail, by Richard Wright

The Red Wheelbarrow, by William Carlos Williams