My month of children’s poetry continues with one of my favorite writers, Lewis Carroll. People (in my experience at least) don’t talk much about him in terms of poetry. Perhaps because the poems are so woven in with the greater story we don't look at them separately, but slow down to really read it as a poem and I hope you'll see what I mean. Some key elements that make "The Voice of the Lobster" a noteworthy children's poem- solid structure, an obvious rhyming pattern, whimsical sounds and images you want to revisit time and time again.
The Voice of the Lobster
by Lewis Carroll
"'TIS the voice of the Lobster: I heard him declare
'You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair.'
As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose
Trims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes.
When the sands are all dry, he is gay as a lark,
And will talk in contemptuous tones of the Shark:
But, when the tide rises and sharks are around,
His voice has a timid and tremulous sound."
"I passed by his garden, and marked, with one eye,
How the Owl and the Panter were sharing a pie:
The Panther took pie-crust, and gravy, and meat,
While the Old had the dish as its share of the treat.
When the pie was all finished, the Owl, as a boon,
Was kindly permitted to pocket the spoon:
While the Panther received knife and fork with a growl,
And concluded the banquet by [eating the owl.]
Found at: http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/carrol01.html
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