Just had a lovely afternoon with my dad reciting poems together that he learned in school. I think that was something they used to do in education in the forties/ fifties and it is something he is still finding pleasure in. He can remember the poems ( with a few prompts). I’d be interested to hear from others who have found the same and to find out which poems are enjoyed. Today it was a poem called Sea Fever by John Masefield, which was a new one to me.
Poetry
- Thread starter Bettusboo
- Start date
Yes @Bettusboo , mum could do the same. I found a book of poetry - The Golden Treasury of Verse - in her home. I would read a poem and she could recite it, so we would say it together. Her favourite was Daffodils by Wordsworth
I’ll look for that as a collection of poems would be good. We read Daffodils today and he really enjoyed it.
As dementia progresses the more complex and descriptive poetry becomes harder to understand as language skills are lost. Dementia robs them of their imagination.
As already posted, mum loved the more everyday type of poems of Pam Ayres . We also found a copy of our childhood poem book 'Now we are Six' by A A Milne, and mum loved that as well . Both books are amusing poems that appealed to her sense of fun
I also read poems with my Mum. She very much liked the Owl and the Pussycat and other poems from a treasury, reciting along with me. She also loved Shakespeare (having been a bit of a thespian in a past life). I got Lambs Tales of Shakespeare, thinking she would remember it and it might be more accessible. She immediately spotted where it quoted the bard direct, and said "that is much better" than the text written for children! After that we went back to sonnets and the original plays a bit.
