Selected by Jan Fielden and John MoleTHE PIED PIPER OF HAMELINAND OTHER FAVORITE POEMS The American poet Robert Frost believed that ‘a poem beginsin delight and ends in wisdom.’ It is in this spirit that this collection hasbeen made, chosen and read for younger listeners. The first surprise is the sheer range of the poetry. Thereare rhymes, which seem barely to have emerged from the nursery, such as A.A.Milne’s The King’s Breakfast and Hilaire Belloc’s Henry King; yet there arealso poems with a structure and content that suggest a more comfortable home inadult anthologies. Coleridge’s Kubla Khan, for example, with its magicallandscape and solemn rhythms seldom fails to capture the imagination of younglisteners. A good poem often communicates before it is understood. This is the enduring appeal of poetry. Its use of highlyvivid images and its rhythmic resilience and variety allow the poet to bringimagination, in its many and unexpected colors, fully to life. We have included a range of poetry, which moves naturallyfrom home base to strange regions, from the comic and curious to the mysteriousand profound. All the poems are particularly suitable for reading aloud,whether they are lyrical, dramatic or — as in several cases such as KitWright’s Zoe’s Ear-rings — simply enjoying the fun of ingenious wordplay. There are complete stories here — The Pied Piper of Hamelin,The Lady of Shalott — and humor aplenty, whether it is the music hall mischiefof Dahn the Plughole or the more sinister touches of Binyon’s Hunger. HilaireBelloc’s Cautionary Tales: Matilda and Henry King have always been popular, andtheir sardonic humor prevents them from seeming over-moralistic or dated. Animals, naturally, figure prominently. We have includedsome fine examples of animal poems containing vivid observation. The sheerpower of William Blake’s The Tyger evokes awe and wonder (which is why we havedecided to place it near the beginning of this selection), but other creaturesgreat and small keep appearing: a mighty horse, a dancing bear, an old donkey,and there are even a guinea-pig and a snail. No anthology of poetry of this kind would be completewithout some nonsense verse, so Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll are wellrepresented. There are also traditional songs such as The Big Rock CandyMountain, and Shakespeare makes his essential appearance with songs from hisplays. We hope that this collection will be used in many situationsand on many occasions — perhaps in the car on a long journey (several of thepoems are about journeys, departures and arrivals), or in the classroom wherethe teacher may want to concentrate on a particular poem. For this reason, thereaders have introduced each poem with its title so that it can be foundeasily.Inevitably there will be old favorites that are missing, butmaybe our young listeners will be introduced to new poems, a number of them bycontemporary poets, which will stay in their memories until they pass them onto another generation. Notes by Jan Fielden and John Mole