Poetry is Meant to be Performed: How to read aloud our rhyming books
- Reeta Dhar
- Apr 27
- 6 min read
One of the most wonderful things about picture books is that, more often than not, these books are read out loud by adults to their little ones, be it grandkids, kids or students.
So, I wanted to share some insights on the creative choices I have made when writing these books that will touch upon a topic that we often forget to discuss: Poetry is meant to be performed.
Hopefully it inspires our adult readers to perhaps become a bit more theatrical during storytime :)
Willow the Wonderer books are narrative poems written in verse, with rhythm and rhyme
Willow the Wonderer stories are what we call narrative poems: Written in verse, they tell a story from the start to the end.
I have always loved narrative poems during my high school years studying English Literature. The one that stands out in my mind to this day is Flannan Isle by Wilfred Wilson Gibson. Reading or hearing this poem recited always leaves me feeling a bit spooky...
I also tend to gravitate towards songs where the lyrics tell a story, rather than some nonsensical composition with duff duff noise ... but that is another blog!
Now, there is a lot of freedom in how someone would write a narrative poem but some common features are that they will have a rhythm and when geared towards small children, often also feature rhyme.
I love both these features and decided from the onset to carry it through in the Willow the Wonderer series.
While rhymes are very helpful for teaching children phonics (sounds that a letter or combination of letters make), it the rhythm that makes a piece of writing, especially poetry, engaging.
It is also the rhythm that, I feel, lends poetry its performative aspect.
Rhythm in poetry - writing to a standard meter
There are a lot of opinions on rhythm in poetry ... especially when written for children.
One of the most prevailing viewpoints is that children's books should be written to same meter - ie should have a standard rhythm that is carried through the book.
There is no doubt that this makes it easier for children (and adults) to read out loud - and for short texts in particular, can be very engaging.
And this is where I started with our first book: Willow the Wonderer.
It was easy enough to follow this 'rule' for that first book because the narrative arch was simple. There was a repeating verse (referred to as refrain) in that book, so it was easy to let that dictate the meter for the main part of the narrative.
However, even in that book, I felt that need to vary the meter when the narrative took a turn and the focus shifted on Willow discovering creatures hidden in the landscape, and the counting part of the book took over.
This again was a common and repeating feature of the book and because it was also a break from the flow of the narrative, it made sense to write this part to another meter.
In the end, the whole book was written to two sets of rhythm that varied in a very predictable pattern.
This made the book perfect for young children and easy for the adults reading out to them. And yes, it remains our bestselling title!
Varying the rhythm to reflect the mood of the narrative
When I picked up the pen to work on the second book however, I realised that this very structured rhythmic pattern was not the best approach to take for the remaining books in the series.
I was also working with more nuanced themes. To convey these through the medium of a story meant that the narratives became more complex - There were 3-5 parts to each story, with each conveying a different mood.
Writing the whole story in the same meter didn't feel right to me - in fact it felt like a waste of a good plot line. Books 2 to 4 (soon 5) were also longer stories so it would get rather monotonous, rather quickly - both for me as a writer and I suspect, my long suffering adult readers!
The opportunity instead was to strategically break, and shift, and pause, and slow/accelerate the rhythm to suit the "turns" in the narrative.
This made the writing more interesting and hopefully - would make the reading a lot more fun.
But I do acknowledge that it means a bit more work on the part of our readers - it makes scansion (scanning a line of a verse to infer the rhythm) less straight foward.
How to infer the rhythm?
The rhythm is dictated by where stresses fall, in a word but also in a sentence.
We tend to do this intuitively when we read - ie simple scanning or reading a line will tell you what the rhythm is.
This will also help you identify where it takes a "turn".
In the Willow the Wonderer books for example, sometimes you will see the rhythm break, and at others pause. Sometimes it will feel rushed and at others slow. Sometimes, a few stanzas will just stand out from others ....
In these instances (ie where the rhythm changes), look beyond the sounds and to the meaning of the words and the narrative arc and hopefully you will be able to see that these twists and turns are serving a purpose - ie helping convey whatever is going on in the story.
As the reader, hopefully, you also will begin to see these turns in the rhythm as an opportunity for performance.
We perform before we publish
It is impossible to simply write a piece of work - prose or verse - and hit the publish button, without having read it out aloud first.
Most writers perform out their work and I am no different.
I read it out loud - many, many times. As I am getting close to finalise the drafts, I also tend to record these session so I can also hear what the writing sounds like.
I also get someone else (mostly Darren) to read the manuscript out loud and record and listen to this as well.
This process is incredibly useful at finding all the bad rhymes and awkward bits that's the result of clumsy writing (or my funky accent) rather than a deliberate creative choice - and polishing it down till the rhythm flows in the desired way.
And then of course, our very experienced and methodical editors do another series of checks. I should add that in addition to editing, they have a background in children's theatre, so bring a performative aspect to the works as well.
All this is to say, the rhythm that you infer in your readings of Willow the Wonderer books came out of a very deliberate creative process.
Is there room for interpretation? Absolutely.
Just as actors bring so much to theatrical production or movie set than what the screenwriters wrote down or director imagined, so can readers!
In fact, during storytime, see yourself as putting on a one person theatrical act.
In doing so you will be setting an incredible example for your little ones - helping them develop confidence in reading out aloud and taking a few risks - and having some fun!
Performance is an important life skill to develop
So, why am I going on about performance?
Because whole of life is a performance. Being confident to inhabit a character and put on a performance is an important life skill: None of us are the same person in every context. Different situations require different things from us.
For quieter, introverted kids in particular, learning to inhabit a role that allows them to present their thoughts and ideas in a confident and engaging way is an essential life skill.
Unless they learn how to do this, they risk never being heard ...
Learning to read out aloud and having the confidence to act out the feelings the words inspires, helps the little ones to start cultivating this skill. And, there is no better way to learn than to watch an adult do this.
So, next time you pick up your Willow the Wonderer books for storytime, put on your theatrical hat - and perform!
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