re: Rhythm is the key to the power and the beauty of our language. But who teaches rhythm in conjunction with grammar and english literature at any level in our public school system?
yes, i am old, and its less true today, but i learned (and had a poetry text book!) from 2nd grade onward.
i was required to learn recertation (there is a word that never really made it into my writen vocabulary--by the time i should have learned it, the idea was passe!) pieces.. every one in school did..
we had to memorize a poem, and stand up in front of the class and recite it. any poem.
one of the few childhood books in my house was Robert Lewis Stevenson's 'A Childrens Garden of Verses' i learned (and can still recite) "I have a little shadow"
by the time my kids were in school, there were no poetry books, and almost no poetry. So i bought these books for my kids. several of them survived my moving 3 times! (i still have them!)
My kids didn't have to memorize Edward Lears "the owl and the the pussy cat" or "the gingham dog and the calico cat" or any of the other poems, but they did grow up hearing them. and christina rossetti's poems, and other favorites from my childhood.
Parents have a responsiblity, too. Dr suess is and remains beloved because of this use of rhythm and rhymes.
i think the popularity of rap is because there was a void in rhythmic speach.. rap helps fill it. (goodness knows, now days to experess and interest in poetry is to be called a total nerd.. (see nerd thread in AWAD in Schools for what that means)
