Fourth Grade Poems
Title
Author
Bed in Summer
Robert Louis Stevenson
Did You?
William Cole
From: The Bed Book
Sylvia Plath
Looking Glass River
Robert Louis Stevenson
Mark’s Fingers
Mary O’Neill
Mother Doesn’t Want a Dog
Judith Viorst
My Shadow
Robert Louis Stevenson
Night
Patricia Hubbell
Oh! For A Closer Walk With God
William Cowper
Praying Mantis
Mary Ann Hoberman
Sliding
Myra Cohn Livingston
Soap
Martin Gardner
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
Robert Frost
The Library
Barbara A. Huff
The Muddy Puddle
Dennis Lee
The Secret Song
Margaret Wise Brown
The Umbrella Brigade
Laura E. Richards
Trees
Harry Behn
Twickham Tweer
Jack Prelutsky
Two From The Zoo
Eve Merriam
Us Two
A.A. Milne
Velvet Shoes
Elinor Wylie
Wrestling
Kathleen Fraser
Bed in Summer
By Robert Louis Stevenson
From: The Bed Book
By Sylvia Plath
In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.
These are the Beds
for me and for you!
These are the Beds
to climb into:
I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people’s feet
Still going past me in the street.
Pocket-size Beds
and Beds for Snacks,
Tank Beds, Beds
on Elephant Backs,
Beds that fly,
or go under water,
Bouncy Beds, Beds
you can spatter and spotter,
Bird-Watching Beds,
Beds for Zero Weatherany kind of Bed
as long as it’s rather
special and queer
and full of surprises,
And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?
From: A Child’s Garden of Verses, Crowne
Publishers. 1985.
Did You?
By William Cole
Having little kids around, they say, is truly
bliss;
But did you ever hear of any little kid like
this?
He swallows pits,
Has temper fits,
Spills the ink,
And clogs the sink.
And, oh my gosh!
He hates to wash!
He plays with matches,
And grabs and snatches.
He scrawls on walls,
And sprawls and bawls,
And argues and fights,
And kicks and bites. . . .
You say you never heard of
Any kid like that, you do-Well, I know one who’s
Just like that and it’s
Beds of amazing
shapes and sizesNOT just a white little
tucked-in-tight little
nighty-night little
turn-out-the-light little
bed!
From: The Bed Book by Sylvia Plath
1976 by Ted Hughes
Y
O
U!
1977 by William Cole
NWCSI Spotlight on Speech Fourth Grade Poetry List – Appendix B
Revised 2013
4th - 2
Looking-Glass River
By Robert Louis Stevenson
Mark’s Fingers
By Mary O’Neill
Smooth it glides upon its travel,
Here a wimple, there a gleam –
O the clean gravel !
O the smooth stream !
I like my fingers.
They grip a ball,
Turn a page,
Break a fall,
Help whistle
A call.
Shake hands
And shoot
Rubberbands.
When candy is offered
They take enough
They fill my pockets
With wonderful stuff,
And they always tell me
Smooth from rough.
They follow rivers
On a map,
They double over
When I rap,
They smack together
When I clap.
They button buttons,
Tie shoelaces,
Open doors to
Brand-new places.
They float
My paper ships,
Fasten paper to
Paper clips,
And carry ice cream
To my lips. . . .
Sailing blossoms, silver fishes,
Paven pools as clear as air –
How a child wishes
To live down there!
We can see our coloured faces
Floating on the shaken pool
Down in the cool places,
Dim and very cool;
Till a wind or water wrinkle,
Dipping marten, plumbing trout,
Spreads in a twinkle
And blots all out.
See the rings pursue each other:
All below grows black as night,
Just as if mother
Had blown out the light !
Patience, children, just a minute –
See the spreading circles die;
The stream and all in it
Will clear by-and-by.
From: A Child’s Garden of Verses, by
Robert Louis Stevenson, Crowne
Publishers. 1985.
NWCSI Spotlight on Speech Fourth Grade Poetry List – Appendix B
Revised 2013
From Fingers are Always Bringing Me
News by Mary O’Neill,  1969 by Mary
O’Neill
4th - 3
Mother Doesn’t Want A Dog
By Judith Viorst
Mother doesn’t want a dog.
Mother says they smell,
And never sit when you say sit,
Or even when you yell.
And when you come home late at night
And there is ice and snow,
You have to go back out because
The dumb dog has to go.
Mother doesn’t want a dog.
Mother says they shed,
And always let the strangers in
And bark at friends instead,
And do disgraceful things on rugs,
And track mud on the floor,
And flop upon your bed at night
And snore their doggy snore.
Mother doesn’t want a dog.
She’s making a mistake.
Because, more than a dog, I think
She will not want this snake.
From If I were in Charge of the World by
Judith Viorst, 1981 by Judith Viorst
NWCSI Spotlight on Speech Fourth Grade Poetry List – Appendix B
Revised 2013
4th - 4
My Shadow
By Robert Louis Stevenson
I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.
The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow-Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an India-rubber ball,
And he sometimes goes so little that there's none of him at all.
He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close behind me, he's a coward you can see;
I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!
One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an errant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.
From A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Lewis Stevenson
Crowne Publishers © 1985
Night
By Patricia Hubbell
Night is a purple pumpkin,
Laced with a silver web,
And the moon a golden spider,
Wandering through the strands.
At dawn the purple pumpkin,
Rolling slowly around,
Leans against the star-web,
Moving the spider down.
The silver web slides slowly,
Slowly by.
The twinkling stars cease spinning
Their skeins of silver gray,
The spider moon
Crawls down the strands
And night turns into day.
Praying Mantis
By Mary Ann Hoberman
That praying mantis over there
Is really not engaged in prayer.
That praying mantis that you see
Is really preying (with an “e”).
It preys upon the garter snake.
It preys upon the bumblebee.
It preys upon the cabbage worm,
The wasp, the fly, the moth, the flea.
(And sometimes, if its need is great,
It even preys upon its mate.)
With prey and preying both so endless,
It tends to end up rather friendless
And seldom is commended much
Except by gardeners and such.
From The Apple Vendor’s Fair by
Patricia Hubbell, 1963 by Patricia
Hubbell
NWCSI Spotlight on Speech Fourth Grade Poetry List – Appendix B
Revised 2013
From Bugs by Mary Ann Hoberman,
1976 by Mary Ann Hoberman
4th - 5
Oh! For A Closer Walk With God
By William Cowper
Sliding
By Myra Cohn Livingston
Oh! for a closer walk with God,
A calm and heavenly frame-,
A light to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb!
We can slide
down
the
hill
or
down
the
stair
or
down
the
street
or anywhere.
Where is the blessedness I knew
When first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul-refreshing view
Of Jesus and his word?
What peaceful hours I once enjoyed!
How sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void,
The world can never fill.
Return, 0 holy Dove, return,
Sweet messenger of rest;
I hate the sins that made thee mourn,
And drove thee from my breast.
Or down the roof
where the shingles broke,
Or down the trunk
of the back-yard oak.
Down
The dearest idol I have known;
Whate'er that idol be;
Help me to tear it from thy throne,
And worship only thee.
So shall my walk be close with God,
Calm and serene my frame;
So purer light shall mark the road
That leads me to the Lamb.
Cowper, William, public domain
the
slide
or the ice
or the slippery street,
We can slide
on our sled
or our skates
or our feet.
Ok, it's lots of fun to go outside
And slide
and slide
and slide
and slide.
Livingston, Myra Cohn. Whispers And
Other Poems.Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc,
1958 copyright by Myra Cohn Livingston
NWCSI Spotlight on Speech Fourth Grade Poetry List – Appendix B
Revised 2013
4th - 6
Soap
By Martin Gardner
Just look at those hands!
Did you actually think
That the dirt would come off, my daughter,
By wiggling your fingers
Around in the sink
And slapping the top of the water?
Just look at your face!
Did you really suppose
Those smudges would all disappear
With a dab at your chin
And the tip of your nose
And a rub on the back of one ear?
You tell me your face
And your fingers are clean?
Do you think your old Dad is a dope?
Let’s try it again
With a different routine.
This time we’ll make use of the soap!
Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy
Evening
By Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before l sleep.
From The Random House Book of Poetry
for Children, 1983 by Random House
NWCSI Spotlight on Speech Fourth Grade Poetry List – Appendix B
Revised 2013
Frost, Robert, New Hampshire, Henry Holt
and Co., Inc, 1923
4th - 7
The Library
By Barbara A. Huff
The Muddy Puddle
By Dennis Lee
It looks like any building
When you pass it on the street,
Made of stone and glass and marble,
Made of iron and concrete.
I am sitting
In the middle
Of a rather Muddy
Puddle,
With my bottom
Full of bubbles
And my rubbers
Full of Mud,
But once inside you can ride
A camel or a train,
Visit Rome, Siam, or Nome,
Feel a hurricane,
Meet a king, learn to sing,
How to bake a pie,
Go to sea, plant a tree,
Find how airplanes fly,
Train a horse, and of course
Have all the dogs you’d like,
See the moon, a sandy dune,
Or catch a whopping pike.
Everything that books can bring
You’ll find inside those walls.
A world is there for you to share
When adventure calls.
You cannot tell its magic
By the way the building looks,
But there’s wonderment within it,
The wonderment of books.
While my jacket
And my sweater
Go on slowly
Getting wetter
As I very
Slowly settle
To the Bottom
Of the Mud.
And I find that
What a person
With a puddle
Round his middle
Thinks of mostly
In the muddle
Is the MuddiNess of Mud.
From The Random House Book of Poetry
for Children, by Barbara A. Huff
NWCSI Spotlight on Speech Fourth Grade Poetry List – Appendix B
Revised 2013
From Garbage Delight by Dennis Lee,
1977 by Dennis Lee
4th - 8
The Secret Song
By Margaret Wise Brown
The Umbrella Brigade
Bv Laura E. Richards
Who saw the petals
drop from the rose?
I, said the spider,
But nobody knows
"Pitter- Patter!" falls the rain
On the school-room window-pane.
Such a plashing! such a dashing!
Will it e'er be dry again?
Down the gutter rolls a flood,
And the crossing's deep in mud;
And the puddles! oh, the puddles
Are a sight to stir one's blood!
Who, saw the sunset
flash on a bird?
I, said the fish,
But nobody heard.
But let it rain
Tree-toads and frogs,
Muskets and pitchforks,
Kittens and dogs!
Dash away! plash away!
Who is afraid?
Here we go,
The Umbrella Brigade!
Who saw the fog
come over the sea?
I, said the sea pigeon,
Only me.
Who saw the first
green light of the sun?
I, said the night owl,
The only one.
Who saw the moss
creep over the stone?
I, said the gray fox,
All alone.
From Nibble Nibble by Margaret Wise
Brown, 1959 by Margaret Wise Brown
Pull the boats up to the knee!
Tie the hoods on merrily!
Such a hustling! such a jostling!
Out of breath with fun are we.
Clatter, Clatter, down the street,
Greeting every one we meet
With our laughing and our chaffing,
Which the laughing drops repeat.
But let it rain
Tree-toads and frogs,
Muskets and pitchforks,
Kittens and dogs!
Dash away! plash away!
Who is afraid?
Here we go,
The Umbrella Brigade!
Richards, Laura, E. from Tirra Lirra, Brown
& Company, Boston 1932
NWCSI Spotlight on Speech Fourth Grade Poetry List – Appendix B
Revised 2013
4th - 9
Trees
By Harry Behn
Trees are the kindest things I know,
They do no harm, they simply grow
And spread a shade for sleepy cows,
And gather birds among their boughs.
They give us fruit in leaves above,
And wood to make our houses of,
And leaves to burn on Hallowe'en
And in the Spring new buds of green.
They are the first when day's begun
To touch the beams of morning sun,
They are the last to hold the light
When evening changes into night
And when a moon floats on the sky
They hum a drowsy lullaby
Of sleepy children long ago . . .
Trees are the kindest things I know.
Behn, Harry, The Little Hill, Harcourt, Brace
& World, Inc.,1949
Twickham Tweer
By Jack Prelutsky
Shed a tear for Twickham Tweer
who ate uncommon meals,
who often peeled bananas
and then only ate the peels,
who empties jars of marmalade
and only ate the jars,
and only ate the wrappers
off of chocolate candy bars.
Whens Twickham cooked a chicken
he would only eat the bones,
he discarded scoops of ice cream
though he always ate the cones,
he’d boil a small potato
but he’d only eat the skin,
and pass up canned asparagus
to gobble down the tin.
He sometimes dined on apple cores
and bags of peanut shells,
on cottage cheese containers,
cellophane from caramels,
but Twickham Tweer passed on last year,
that odd and novel man,
when he fried an egg one morning
and then ate the frying pan.
From The Random House Book of Poetry for
Children 1983 by Random House
NWCSI Spotlight on Speech Fourth Grade Poetry List – Appendix B
Revised 2013
4th - 10
Two From The Zoo
By Eve Merriam
Us Two
By A.A. Milne
There is an animal known as skink,
And no matter what you might happen
to
think
Or ever have thunk,
Wherever I am, there's always Pooh,
There's always Pooh and Me.
Whatever I do, he wants to do,
"Where are you going to-day?" says Pooh:
'Well, that's very odd 'cos I was too.
Let's go together," says Pooh, says he.
"Let's go together," says Pooh.
A skink Unlike a skunk Does not stink.
A skink is a skink.
If you go to the zoo
It may be on view
Alongside an aye-aye.
Aye, yes, that's right.
It's quite a sight.
Please take my word
That an aye-aye is not a sailor bird
Or anything else just as absurd,
No, it's truly and zooly
A creature there.
Don't be afraid, since it's dulcet
and docile
And not in the least
An unruly beast.
Merriam, Eve, There Is No Rhyme for
Silver. Atheneum Publishers, 1962
copyright held by Eve Merriam
"What's twice eleven?" I said to Pooh.
(Twice what?" said Pooh to Me.)
"I think it ought to be twenty-two."
"Just what I think myself" said Pooh.
"It wasn't an easy sum to do,
But that's what it is,"' said Pooh, said he.
“That's what it is," said Pooh.
"Let's look for dragons," I said to Pooh.
"Yes, let's," said Pooh to Me.
We crossed the river and found a few "Yes, those are dragons all right," said Pooh.
"As soon as I saw their beaks I knew.
That's what they are,," said Pooh, said he.
"That's what they are," said Pooh.
“Let's frighten the dragons," I said to Pooh.
"That's right," said Pooh to Me.
"I'm not afraid," I said to Pooh,
And I held his paw and I shouted "Shoo!
Silly old dragons!" - and off they flew.
"I wasn't afraid," said Pooh, said he,
"I'm never afraid with you."
So wherever I am, there's always Pooh,
There's always Pooh and Me.
"What would I do?" I said to Pooh,
"If it wasn't for you," and Pooh said: "True,
It isn't much fun for One, but Two
Can stick together," says Pooh, says he.
"That's how it is," says Pooh.
Milne, A..A, Now We Are Six
E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., New York, 1927)
NWCSI Spotlight on Speech Fourth Grade Poetry List – Appendix B
Revised 2013
4th - 11
Velvet Shoes
By Elinor Wylie
Let us walk in the white snow
In a soundless space;
With footsteps quiet and slow,
At a tranquil pace,
Under veils of white lace.
I shall go shod in silk,
And you in wool,
White as a white cow’s milk,
More beautiful
Than the breast of a gull.
We shall walk through the still town
In a windless peace;
We shall step upon white down,
Upon silver fleece,
Upon softer than these.
We shall walk in velvet shoes:
Wherever we go
Silence will fall like dews
On white silence below.
We shall walk in the snow.
Wrestling
By Kathleen Fraser
I like wrestling with Herbie because
he’s my best friend.
We poke each other
(but not very hard)
and punch each other
(but not very hard)
and roll on the grass
and pretend to have fights
just to make our sisters scream.
But sometimes if he hits me too much
and it hurts,
I get mad
and I punch him back
as hard as I can
and then we both are crying
and going into our houses
and slamming our back doors on each
other.
But the next day, if it’s sunny,
we come out into our yards
and grin at each other,
and sometimes he gives me an apple
or I give him a cookie and
then we start wrestling again.
Wylie, Elinor, Collected Poems of Elinor
Wylie, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1932
NWCSI Spotlight on Speech Fourth Grade Poetry List – Appendix B
Revised 2013
From Stilts, Somersaults and Handstands
by Kathleen Fraser, 1968 by Kathleen
Fraser
4th - 12