I received some frog poems from Alex that you're sure to enjoy. Thanks Alex!!
"These poems are from a book called Little Book Of Frogs. It does not have an author, but it was designed and created by the Bridgewater Book Company and published by Weidenfield and Nicolson, London. They are mainly all poems, but there are some parts of stories too."
Maiden's
Kiss
I am a frog
I live under a
spell
I live at the bottom
Of a green well
And here I must
wait
Until a maiden places me
On her royal pillow
And kisses me
In her father's palace
(The Frog
Prince)
(Stevie Smith - 1902-1971)
A
Frog he would a wooing go
A frog he would a wooing go,
Heigh ho! says Rowley,
A frog he would a wooing go
Whether his mother would let him or no
With a rowley, powley, gammon and spinach
Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley
So off he set
with his opera hat
Heigh ho! says
Rowley,
And on the road he met a rat
Heigh ho! says
Anthony Rowley.
"Pray, Mr
Rat will you go with me,
Heigh ho! says Rowley
Kind Mrs Mousey for to see?"
With a rowley, powley, gammon and spinach.
Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley.
(A frog he would
a wooing-go)
(Thomas Ravenscroft - 1592-1640)
Frogs and Snails
I marvel why
frogs and snails are with
some people and in some countries
in great account,
and judged wholesome
food, where as indeed they have in them
nothing else but a cold, gross, slimy and
excremental juice.
(Via Recta 1620) (Tobias Venner)
Waters
Green
His mansion in the Pool
The Frog forsakes-
He rises on a Log
And statements makes -
His Auditors two
Worlds Deducting
me -
The Orator of April
Is hoarse Today
-
His Mittens at his
feet
No Hand hath he -
His eloquence a
Bubble
And Fame should be-
Applaud him to discover
To your chagrin
Demosthenes has vanished
In Waters Green
(His Mansion in
the Pool)
(Emily Dickinson
1830-1886)
Once
Upon a Time
Once upon a time
there was a frog called
Mr Jeremy Fisher; he lived in a little damp
house amongst the buttercups at the edge
of a pond.
The water was all slippy-sloppy in the larder
and in the back passage.
But Mr Jeremy liked getting his feet wet; nobody
ever scolded him
and he never caught cold!
(from The Tales
of Mr Jeremy Fisher)
(Beatrix Potter
1866-1943)
The
Frog and the Toad
Hopping frog, hop
here and be seen
I'll not pelt you
with stick or stone
Your cap is laced and your coat is green
Goodbye, we'll let each other alone
Plodding toad,
plod here and be looked at,
You at the finger of scorn is crooked at:
But though you are lumpish, you're harmless too;
You won't hurt me and I won't hurt you.
(The Frog and
the Toad)
(Christina Rossetti 1830 - 1894)
A
Frog's Fate
Contemptuous of his
home beyond
The village and the village pond,
A large souled Frog
who spurned each byeway
Hopped along the imperial highway.
Nor grunting pig
nor barking dog
Could disconcert so great a Frog.
The morning dew was lingering yet,
His sides so cool,
his tongue so wet:
The night-dew, when the night should come,
A travelled frog would send a home.
Not so, alas!
The wayside grass
Sees him no
more: no so, alas!
A broad-wheeled waggon unawares
Ran him down, his
joys, his cares,
From dying choke
one feeble croak
The Frog's perpetual silence broke:
"Ye buoyant Frogs, ye great and small,
Even I am mortal after all!
My road to fame
turns out a wry way;
I perish on the hideous highway;
Oh for my familiar byway!"
The croaking
Frog sobbed and was gone;
The wagoner strode whistling on,
Unconscious of the
carnage done,
Whistling that waggoner strode on -
Whistling (it may have happened so)
"A froggy
would a-wooing go"
A hypothetic frog trolled he,
Obtuse to reality
(from A Frog's
Fate)
(Christina Rossetti 1830-1894)
THE
FROG
Be kind and tender to the frog
And do not call him names
As
"Slimy-Skin" or "Pollywog"
Or likewise "Uncle James"
Or
"Gape-a-grin" or "Toad-gone-wrong"
Or Billy
Bandy knees
The frog is
justly sensitive
To epithets like these
No animal will
more repay
A treatment kind and fair
At least, so lonely people say
Who meet a frog (and by the way,
They are extremely rare).
(A Bad Child's
Book of Beasts)
(Hilaire
Belloc 1896)
Page last updated 01 Feb 2003.
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