Teaching Notes: Play Poems
A Good Play
By Robert Louis Stevenson
We build a ship upon the stairs
All made of the back-bedroom chairs,
And filled it full of sofa pillows
To go a-sailing on the billows.
A
A
B
B
We took a saw and several nails,
And water in the nursery pails;
And Tom said, “Let us also take
An apple and a slice of cake;”—
Which was enough for Tom and me
To go a-sailing on, till tea.
C
C
D
D
E
E
We sailed along for days and days,
And had the very best of plays;
But Tom fell out and hurt his knee,
So there was no one left but me.
F
F
G
G
Let’s start with the rhyme scheme. Let’s mark the words that are at the ends of the lines
with letters. If the words rhyme, we will use the same letter.  Help the children look at
the end words and decide if they rhyme. Mark as above.
•
What do you notice about the rhyme scheme? (Every two lines rhyme.)
We call two rhyming lines that are right next to each other “rhyming couplets.” This
poem is written in rhyming couplets.
Now let’s underline the syllables that are accented.  Clap the lines for the children,
then have them clap the lines with you. Use the pattern above to mark the poems.
•
What is the meter of most of these lines? (Iambic tetrameter.)
•
Where do you see lines that don’t quite fit? (The 2nd line and the 9th line. In the 2nd
line there are two unstressed syllables then two stressed syllables. The 1st foot of
the 9th line in DUM da, not da DUM.)
©Brought to you by American Heritage Schools Year 2
The Land of Counterpane
By Robert Louis Stevenson
When I was sick and lay a-bed,
I had two pillows at my head,
And all my toys beside me lay,
To keep me happy all the day.
A
A
B
B
And sometimes for an hour or so
I watched my leaden soldiers go,
With different uniforms and drills,
Among the bed-clothes, through the hill;
C
C
D
D
And sometimes sent my ships in fleets
All up and down among the sheets;
Or brought my trees and houses out,
And planted cities all about.
E
E
F
F
I was the giant great and still
That sits upon the pillow-hill,
And sees before him, dale and plain,
The pleasant land of counterpane.
G
G
H
H
Let’s start with the rhyme scheme. Let’s mark the words that are at the ends of the lines
with letters. If the words rhyme, we will use the same letter.  Help the children look at
the end words and decide if they rhyme. Mark as above.
•
What do you notice about the rhyme scheme? (Every two lines rhyme.)
We call two rhyming lines that are right next to each other “rhyming couplets.” This
poem is written in rhyming couplets.
Now let’s underline the syllables that are accented.  Clap the lines for the children,
then have them clap the lines with you. Use the pattern above to mark the poems.
•
What is the meter of most of these lines? (Iambic tetrameter.)
•
Do you see any lines that don’t quite fit the meter? (In the 13th line the first foot
goes DUM da, not da DUM.)
©Brought to you by American Heritage Schools Literature 25d / p 2 The Land of Storybooks
By Robert Louis Stevenson
At evening when the lamp is lit,
Around the fire my parents sit;
They sit at home and talk and sing,
And do not play at anything.
A
A
B
B
Now, with my little gun, I crawl
All in the dark along the wall,
And follow round the forest track
Away behind the sofa back.
C
C
D
D
There, in the night, where none can spy,
All in my hunter’s camp I lie,
And play at books that I have read
Till it is time to go to bed.
E
E
F
F
There are the hills, these are the woods.
These are my starry solitudes;
And there the river by whose brink
The roaring lion comes to drink.
G
G
H
H
I see the others far away
As if in firelit camp they lay,
And I, like to an Indian scout,
Around their party prowled about.
I
I
J
J
So, when my nurse comes in for me,
Home I return across the sea,
And go to bed with backward looks
At my dear land of Storybooks.
K
K
L
L
Let’s start with the rhyme scheme. Let’s mark the words that are at the ends of the lines
with letters. If the words rhyme, we will use the same letter.  Help the children look at
the end words and decide if they rhyme. Mark as above.
•
What do you notice about the rhyme scheme? (Every two lines rhyme.)
We call two rhyming lines that are right next to each other “rhyming couplets.” This
poem is written in rhyming couplets.
©Brought to you by American Heritage Schools Literature 25d / p 3 Now let’s underline the syllables that are accented.  Clap the lines for the children,
then have them clap the lines with you. Use the pattern above to mark the poems.
•
What is the meter of most of these lines? (Iambic tetrameter.)
Each of you find a line that doesn’t quite fit the meter.  Have each child point out a
line that is not quite iambic tetrameter.
©Brought to you by American Heritage Schools Literature 25d / p 4