What worlds of wonder are our books!As one opens them and looks,New ideas and people riseIn our fancies and our eyes.The room we sit in melts away,And we find ourselves at playWith some one who, before the end,May become our chosen friend.Or we sail along the pageTo some other land or age.Here's our body in the chair,But our mind is over there.Each book is a magic boxWhich with a touch a child unlocks.In between their outside coversBooks hold all things for their lovers. Eleanor Farjeon
Sunday’s poem : What worlds of wonder... - Lung Conditions C...
Sunday’s poem
Written by
Lyd12
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33 Replies
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How very true and Iris, each story leads you into a different world.
Hope you are keeping well and looking after yourself 💐 xxx
Very true Iris. I love books and reading and like to encourage our grandchildren to read too.
Sending love and good wishes to you.
Take care xxxx😘❤️
I used to be an avid reader but find I can't concentrate now. Pity as it is a good pastime. The last time I got my e reader out it eventually put itself to sleep because I hadn't turned a page for ages!
I am sometimes like this Carole and think it is more to do with the book and author. If it is my kind of book I will get involved and then keep thinking just one more page and I will put the light out x
I used to be like that Irene and still awake at 4am reading. I have authors I like on my e reader but find I just can't get interested any more. Still, I'm getting more sleep now.😊
Glad to hear you are getting more sleep Carole. Would an audio book help? I used to enjoy the stories on the radio when younger and found myself getting into them when cooking. Hope you are keeping well x
Allow me Iris, it's such a lovely poem and so very true:
What worlds of wonder are our books!
As one opens them and looks,
New ideas and people rise
In our fancies and our eyes.
The room we sit in melts away,
And we find ourselves at play
With some one who, before the end,
May become our chosen friend.
Or we sail along the page
To some other land or age.
Here's our body in the chair,
But our mind is over there.
Each book is a magic box
Which with a touch a child unlocks.
In between their outside covers
Books hold all things for their lovers.
Written by Eleanor Farjeon
is there a button to press to convert to lines of poetry?
Not on my ipad which is what you use I think, but then mine is an old one.
So very true Iris. I love books but dont read as much as I used to. I pick up my kindle everynight when i get in bed but sometimes only read a paragraph or two before nodding off. I think it depends on the author, if i like the book I get so involved I cant put the light out. Hope all is well with you x
So true! Since childhood I’ve always escaped into books and now the world is such a frightening place reading is even more of a comfort
Thankyou! I love this, books are my favourite, to paraphrase Buddy the Elf! When I graduated one of my young nephews said I had a gold star in reading. 😂 When you can read you can know everything. As I emerged from a coma the world seemed a changed place. Some things I had to relearn but the day I became convinced I could no longer read, and would never be able to, filled me with despair. Even now that memory is hugely powerful. It was, thank providence, not true but the amazing CCU nurses had to spend time convincing me.
💕x
Sorcha will have to put that on display at the bookstore she is working at on the weekends!
My chosen friend was Winnie the Pooh, and still is. Perhaps because I was a very late reader and Pooh's were the first books I could read for myself. Hope you are keeping well. xxxx
What a wonderful poem and so true, too. I still remember the thrill of excitement I felt when Mum took me to the local library for the first time! All those wonderful books to explore! Our weekly library visits were the highlight of my week as a child - rather tame by today’s standards, I fear but having the ability to read and enjoy a good book sets you up for life, in my view.
My first memories of reading books - Mabel Lucie Attwell and Enid Blyton's Noddy! They were old books, well thumbed, clearly pre-loved and they were treasured by me. I absolutely adored them.
My first experience of having a brand new book came when, aged 6 or 7, I was off school for weeks and weeks with St Vitus Dance. I was confined to bed all that time as it was believed to have affected my heart. My teacher visited me, my beloved Mrs Hurford. She sat on the edge of my bed and presented me with a gift wrapped neatly in newspaper and tied up with string. I undid it to find a brand new Beatrix Potter book - Tom Kitten! I had never received a wrapped gift from anyone before and so even undoing the newspaper was a very special moment. The excitement of finding the treasure within!
Another day, my mother came up to my bedside with several more brand new books. She told me a woman had brought them to the door for me as she'd heard I was ill. It was a kind gesture. They were religious books and, with hindsight, I guess they might have come from the Mormons as the language was quite Americanised. One of the books had stories telling how sick children had been cured by prayer. I enjoyed the stories and prayed like mad, but no miracle happened!
A few years later, my brother was given a set of William books, written by Rachel Crompton. I was not allowed to touch his things but I finally inherited them when he started his O levels and I devoured every one of them. I then loaned them to the boy across the road who had recently moved in and was close to me in age. He, in turn, loaned me his Jennings books, closely followed by Biggles!
I loved reading, but we didn't have books in our house as a general thing. At Christmas, we got Annuals from Father Christmas, and I was treated to the Dandy and Beano every week, but there was little else to read and so I took to reading my father's 'Grocer' (he had a corner shop) and also his Exchange and Mart.
I find it incredible that I managed to pass my English Literature 'O' level by reading one of the books on the morning of the exam. It was quite boring and had not grabbed my interest one bit, but a quick run through it in the morning did the trick and I was able to answer all the related questions.
Wow, Iris, your Sunday poem has brought back a lot of memories for me. Thank you.
xx Moy
What an interesting tale, Moy! Poor you, I had to look up SVD, a horrible sounding illness and thank goodness now rare. I used to gobble up books too, and kind neighbours would bring ancient copies of Noddy & Just William to the door. I loved my dad’s big atlas and old encyclopedias. Whereas my 8 year old has so many books, all the Roald Dahls, Jill Murphys etc. Her favourites are the factual ones - space, dinosaurs etc. She’s a lucky kid!
Times have changed so much and it's great that the children of today have access to lovely books. My grandchildren all adore reading and when the two eldest came to us every other Saturday when they were small, we used to go to the local library and come back with a bag full of books. They loved being able to choose. xx Moy
an early memory of mine was when I was about five, a man called at our door selling books. Mum asked him in and he showed us an example of a book called The Childrens Encyclopedia by Arthur Mee. I loved it and begged mum to buy it. It was a set of twelve large books that covered everything, poetry, fiction, art, industry, you name it. Mum gave in and was able to buy them , must hsve been weekly. As a rest from the bombing we, mum, me, aunt and young cousin, went to live in the country, leaving our menfolk behind. Mum passed on my set of books to another cousin, and we got them back but they had lived in the air raid Shelter and had candle grease spilt on them, but I still loved them. A few years back I passed them on to a charity shop, but now regret that. Iris x
My parents also bought a set of encyclopaedias at the door. The New Book of Knowledge was the title and I think my dad paid weekly for them. It must have been a struggle for them because we were far from well off. I spent hours with those books until they were sold in my teens.
I’m sorry about your illness Moy, that sounds horrible but what wonderful memories you have shared with us x
It wasn't great being upstairs in bed and hearing everything going on downstairs. My dolls were my salvation as I had quite a few - and my favourite teddy bear, of course. They became my class and I 'taught' them on a daily basis. I begged for paper, scissors, needles and thread and made little books for them all which I would help them write in. When I had books, I would read to them all. xx Moy
What a lovely gesture from Mrs Hurford. I was lucky there were lots of books in my house and my Nan's. Mom took me to our local, wonderful library regularly too as she loved reading.
I don't ever remember seeing my mother read a book and she certainly didn't go near a library! She found writing difficult as she was born left handed but was forced to use her right hand to write with. She hated school because of this and I now suspect that she may have found reading books difficult too. She used to read the Daily Mirror every day but rarely read a magazine, even if they were passed on to her by a friend.
My father was the opposite and he sought out knowledge. In later years, when he had the time, he would get books out of the library to assist with any task he was undertaking, be it clock and watch repairing or installing h is own oil fired central heating.
I don't ever remember going into our town library until I was much older, and my visit then was with a friend who was returning a book.
Mrs Hurford was a lovely, older lady (probably not THAT old, but she seemed it to me) who was kindness itself. She was a good teacher who ruled with the carrot and not the stick. I loved going to school when I was in her class. xx Moy
There were some truly inspirational teachers when we were young. I hope younger generations have them too. I'm impressed your father taught him self such skills!
He was a clever man and could turn his hand to anything, despite having no training and very basic education. He was also very kind to others and loved making people laugh. Xx Moy
so true nana! Just started my job at the bookstore, amazing how much joy reading brings people! Hope you’re well xx
people of my generation, born 1934, grew up without television or iPads etc. books were our best escape, radio was mostly news about how the war was progressing. Of course we didn’t havenough money to spend on books, but the encyclopaedias were bought on a weekly sum. Comics were shared, passed from one child to another, not thrown away. One child would bring along their old collection of comics, and we would gather round on a doorstep, passing them around. Public libraries were a godsend, a bus ride away, but luckily for me my mum liked to read so I was taken there, where there was a childrens room of books for children, love Iris x
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