Black History Poems

This Black History poems blog is another of my contributions for the website

http://www.history-for-kids.com/

It is written from the perspective of a little slave girl in the 1700s living with her father and sister in a slave hut on a cotton plantation in North America

I live in my Pappy's hutMy name is Kizzy ClayMy older sister is ElizaI'm six years old today

My Mammy died of feverEliza's ten, she cares for meI don't know our exact address

But we live in Slavery

Pappy works in Mr John's fieldsPlanting cotton and riceYesterday, he was whippedWhich wasn't very nice

Black History Poems

The overseer is very cruelHis name is Nathaniel BlackMy pappy cannot work todayHe's got deep cuts on his back

Oh, I can see Mr John's little girlHer name is Missy RoseShe lives in the Big HouseAnd wears very nice clean clothes

She's pretty and has white skinHer mother is also deadBut she has two aunts to care for herShe sleeps in a proper bed

Black History Poems

She has a beautiful ponyWhich lives in a stable 6 feet 4It has its own blanketsAnd nice clean straw

Our hut is also 6 feet 4Two families have to shareIts very dark and we sleep on ragsEliza says it isn't fair

Pappy says his Grandpappy's Pappy"Was a chief before coming here

Once proud and free, he was enslavedTo live in chains.....and fear

Black History Poems

All the young strong villagersWere forcefully taken awayCrammed into sailing shipsBound for the USA

Many died on the wayA ship sometimes would sinkOr they died through lack of medicineOr not enough to drink"

Pappy says his Grandpappy's PappyArrived very much aliveHe was a strong healthy 20 year old

He died, broken, at 35

Black History Poems

Pappy says that one dayAll slaves will be freeWe'll get a President who believes in itJust you wait and see

Pappy says he has a dreamThat a King will come one dayAnd they'll listen very carefullyTo all he has to say

He says that he has a dreamThat blacks and whites will live as oneLiving free, in a proper houseJust like Mr John

Black History Poems

He even dreams that maybe

There will come the dayWhen a black man becomes the PresidentOf the USA

Eliza says he's crazyOr that's how it seemsBut she says when life is very hardA man should have his dreams

Black History Poems

One day, perhaps, a little girlWill have a story readBy her Pappy, before she goes to sleepIn her proper bed

But until then, I'll be contentWhat will be, will beNighty night I must goThere's a dream that waits for me

Jon Bratton 2009

Clink the link for more

Black History Poems

This 'black history poems' blog page is copyright jon Bratton 2009

Boudicca Warrior Queen of the Iceni

Here's another poem I wrote for the new website

http://www.history-for-kids.com/

which compiles (bedtime) stories, written in rhyme, about events in history as a resource not only for parents but for teachers as well

Boudicca Warrior Queen of the Iceni

Tonight’s (Today's) story is about a queenBut not a fragile little flower

In fact a tough brave woman

The first with Girl Power

Britain has produced many warriors

Men who fought to keep Britain free

But here’s the story of Warrior Queen Boudicca,

A famous name in history

She had great intelligence

In the opinion of some

She was tall, fierce faced and harsh voiced

And had red hair, right down to her bum

She wore a large golden necklace,

And multi-coloured tunic, and cloak

She led an uprising of the tribes

Against the Roman folk

Here’s why. Her husband, the KingPromised the Romans half his wealth and landBut when the King diedThings didn’t go quite as planned

Normal Roman practiceRegarding allied kingdoms appliedThe kingdom became the property of RomeWhen the current King died

The Romans took everythingWhen they came one dayTreating nobles as slavesAnd acting in a very brutal way

The Britons were appalledAnd thought the Romans had cheatedAlso Queen Boudicca and her Princess daughtersWere badly mistreatedWhen people behave badlyThat simply isn’t rightAnd the one who feels cheatedIs ready to fight

Queen Boudicca was furious

She had never been angrier

So she created an Iceni Army

Based in East Anglia

The Trinovantes, the neighbouring tribeAlso wanted to get rid

Of the Romans, who must be punished

For the awful thing they did

So they joined forces,Led by the QueenIn, perhaps, the biggest armyThe Britons had ever seen

The Druids in Wales revolted

This made the time right

While the Roman Governor was distracted

Now was the time to fight

Boudicca’s army was successfulWith victories at Colchester town

St Albans and London

Which they completely burnt down

But when the Roman Governor returned

The Britons suffered a huge defeat

Beaten by the professional Roman ArmyAt the Battle of Watling Street

80,000 Britons were killedBoudicca managed to survive

But she took poison so the Romans

Couldn’t capture her alive

She lives on in our memoryA bronze statue can be seenIn London, of brave, bold BoudiccaThe mighty Warrior Queen

Jon Bratton 2009

If you want to read the story as a comic book...I recomment it, click the link

The story of Boudicca

If you want more poems, click the link

Boudicca Warrior Queen of the Iceni which takes you to a poem by William Cowper

or if you're really brave try reading

Alfred Lord Tennyson

And here's another Boudicca poem

©

This 'Boudicca Warrior Queen of the Iceni' blog entry is copyright Jon Bratton 2009.This material is free to use for personal use but may not be lifted in whole or part by website publishers

Roman Baths, Aqueducts, Engineering n things

Still on the subject of creating fun and learnable history for kids, as is the mission of

http://www.history-for-kids.com/

a website in the course of construction and which has commisioned me to write some contributions, my piece today was inspired by two gems I was reminded of /came across

a) the bit of script in the Life of Brian which goes something like this"All right... all right... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order... what have the Romans done for us?"and b) a funny piece of doggerel by an Australian who explained why the whole World ended up with railway carriages that run on tracks four feet eight and one-half inches wide. (The Stephenson Gauge or Standard Gauge)

Here is my poem

What the Romans Did for Us

Next time you're on a train

Notice how long and skinny they are

They're not much wider

Than your Daddy's car

You have to use a calendar

Because trains are thin

If you don't book a seat

They'll just not let you in

The Romans gave us our calendar

Which is very handy, cozWithout dates, you wouldn't know

When your birthday was

If you look out the train window

You might see tall arches over deep valleys

That's a Roman invented aqueduct

It's water that it carries

And if you're ill through overcrowding

Because the trains are thin

Say thanks to the Romans

For they brought us medicine

And the train will be safe from robbers

(Coz they're now all running banks)

For our system of law and order

The Romans deserve our thanks

If you're travelling in the Winter

You'll be cozy on the train

Because of the central heating

We can thank those Romans again

If you're travelling in the Summer

Thank the Romans for this too

For without the baths they invented

We'd all be Stinky Poo

If from the window, you see cars

And trucks with heavy loads

They'll be travelling fast and straight

Along what once were Roman roads

And in giving thanks to the Romans

Gratitude is what we say

Why, even that word is RomanAs are many, we speak today

And do you know why trains are skinny

Why they're not very fat

Well, we can blame the Romans..yes blame

We can blame them for that

Trains were made thin

To match the tramways in the street

They kept them the same width

To keep everything neat

The tramlines were that size

Because of the covered wagons before

They already had the manufacturing jigs

And they didn't want to make more

Image from http://sabbah.biz/mt/images/jerash033fb.jpg

The wagons were that size

To match the ruts in the roads

Caused by the Romans with their chariots

Carrying heavy loads

The chariots were that size

Not very wide

To attach the shafts to two horses

Running side by side

The Romans should have used animals

Like an elephant or hippo or bull

If they'd had much bigger bottoms

Our trains wouldn't get so full

So next time your train arrives

And it's already full when it comesSay loudly "All right... the Romans give us sanitation, roads, aqueducts,blah..blah...But they should have used animals... ...with much bigger bums

Jon Bratton 2009

Links

Graeme King's poem about the width of trains

For the Romans in Britain...a poem in 40 words, click the link

Roman Baths, Aqueducts, Engineering n things

©

This 'Roman Baths, Aqueducts, Engineering n things' blog entry is copyright Jon Bratton 2009.

This material is free to use for personal use but may not be lifted in whole or part by website publishers

Hadrian's Wall Poem W H Auden

Dawn at Housesteads Fort. Early morning in Autumn 2006. Photo: Joan Thirlaway.

As a Hadrian's Wall poet, myself...since Tuesday gone, I'm delighted to be in the company of W H Auden who wrote 'Roman Wall Blues' and like me, mentioned the dodgy weather in bleak Northumberland.

Hadrian's Wall is the description most used all over the World to describe this edifice but I live near it and I can tell you that most folks round here call it the Roman Wall.

When I came across this poem by W H Auden who I thought was American I was surprised with the title...but I now know that Auden was born in York and in his formative years he attended a school in and around the Pennines.

Per Wikipedia "...his visits to the Pennine landscape and its declining lead-mining industry figure in many of his poems..." Rookhope is a former lead and fluorspar mining village in County Durham, in England. It first existed as a group of cattle farms in the 13th Century. It is situated in the Pennines to the north of Weardale and it is here that Auden realised he wanted to be a poet. So that nicely explains why his poem is entitled Roman Wall Blues and not Hadrian's Wall Blues

And speaking of 'Blues', a word he clearly likes, I know of Auden because of his "Funeral Blues" ("Stop all the clocks") which was read aloud in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral(1994). He also wrote Refugees Blues. It is likely that all these were originally written as blues song lyrics rather than poems per se

Anyway, here is the poem

Roman Wall Blues

Over the heather the wet wind blows,

I've lice in my tunic and a cold in my nose.

The rain comes pattering out of the sky,

I'm a Wall soldier, I don't know why.

The mist creeps over the hard grey stone,

My girl's in Tungria; I sleep alone.

Aulus goes hanging around her place,

I don't like his manners, I don't like his face.

Piso's a Christian, he worships a fish;

There'd be no kissing if he had his wish.

She gave me a ring but I diced it away;

I want my girl and I want my pay.

When I'm a veteran with only one eye

I shall do nothing but look at the sky.

W. H. Auden

©

This 'Hadrian's Wall Poem W H Auden' blog entry is copyright Jon Bratton 2009.This material is free to use for personal use but may not be lifted in whole or part by website publishers

History for Kids

My nephew has just started a website called, and about, History for Kids which he uses to showcase his growing collection of bedtime stories, written in rhyme, and about aspects of history from the birth of the moon to men on the moon. What a lovely idea. The kids love 'em and they don't even realise they're being educated. Having written them he's presenting them to the World as a free (for non commercial use) resource to Mums (Moms) (Mams) and Dads and teachers

The beauty of writing in rhyme is that it is fun, light hearted and memorable. Because, as you know, I'm a doggerel writer myself he invited me yesterday to make a contribution which was very opportune because I knew I'd have a few hours to kill while I hung around hospital waiting rooms as my 84 year old mother went through a series of checks which involved, and I'm speaking in medical jargon here, putting delicate instruments into delicate places

So I wrote a history for kids poem. Being a Geordie I wrote about our UNESCO World Heritage site, Hadrian's Wall, a bit of which is pictured. So here goes

In 43ADThat's a long, long time agoThe Romans invaded BritainWhich is awful...isn't that so?

They took over England and WalesThey didn't want Scotland at all

And to stop the Scots from stealing the sheepThey built a very big wall

It stretched from the Solway Firth in the westTo the River Tyne in the eastA 70 mile wall would need lots of stones40 million at least

History for kids Hadrian's Wall

The Emperor was in charge of the workHadrian was his nameHe probably built lots of thingsBut his wall gave him lasting fame

It took 6 years to build the wallThere were no fancy machines back thenThey needed hundreds of horses to pull the cartsAnd thousands of working men

And every mile they built forts and turretsThat were very tallSo the soldiers could see any ScotsmenTrying to climb the wall

History for Kids, Hadrian's Wall

The wall lasted throughout the Romans' stay400 years, altogetherI wonder why they stayed so longIt couldn't have been the weather

It was 40 years after the Romans left

That the Britons again had to fightBecause the Saxons came from GermanyBut that's a story for another night

That the wall was very strongWould be fair to sayIt was built nearly 2000 years agoAnd it still stands today

History for Kids, Hadrian's Wall

Indeed, from all around the World

Tourists make a call

To the north end of BritainTo see the famous Hadrian's Wall

As now as you go to sleepThink about this great wallAnd wonder if this was the placeWhere Humpty had his great fall

Jon Bratton 2009

Want more, do you think?Then just click on the link

History for Kids

This History for Kids Hadrian's Wall poem and blog entry is copyright Jon Bratton 2009. Parents and teachers are welcome to use it for non commercial purposes and it may be used by www.history-for-kids.com who inspired its writing