Blog 8 Poems that will help you Improve your English Vocabulary
Reading poems gives English learners the ability to learn new vocabulary at all levels whether as beginners, intermediates or those aiming for advanced English skills. Use new vocabulary to increase your language skills. Poetry also gives us a visual picture which we can all understand. There are many ways you can either read poetry (books, Internet) or listen to poems being read out loud (which helps your listening skills) whilst you are for example driving, travelling or even just relaxing. Here are 8 poems that will help you improve your English vocabulary:
My Parents Sent Me to the Store
My parents sent me to the store
To buy a loaf of bread.
I came home with a puppy
And a parakeet instead.
I came home with a guinea pig,
A hamster and a cat,
A turtle and a lizard
And a friendly little rat.
I also had a monkey
And a mongoose and a mouse.
These animals were crazy
When I brought them in the house.
They barked and yelped and hissed
And chased my family out the door.
My parents never let me
Do the shopping anymore.
Written by Kenn Nesbitt
Home on the Range
Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam,
Where the deer and the antelope play,
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,
And the skies are not cloudy all day.
Home, home on the range,
Where the deer and the antelope play,
Where seldom is hard a discouraging word,
And the skies are not cloudy all the day.
Written by Brewster Higley
Language(s)
I only speak one language.
My friend at school speaks two.
Sometimes I hear her singing to herself
Talking with her dad
Thinking aloud
And I wish my brain held
Two words for dog
Two worlds of sound
Two countries in one mouth.
I have only one word for spoon,
For sock, for moon, for clock.
My friend sings two songs
And I wonder if I will ever find another voice.
Written by Amy Ludwig Van Derwater
Already have a good vocabulary but get stuck while speaking English? We have the solution. Try our method
The Owl and The Pussy Cat
The Owl and the Pussy Cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat.
They took some honey, and plenty of money
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang on a small guitar,
“O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are,
What a beautiful Pussy you are!”
Pussy said to the Owl, “You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! Too long we have tarried;
But what shall we do for a ring?”
They sailed away, for a year and a day.
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there is a wood a Piggy-Wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
“Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?” Said the Piggy, “I will.”
So, they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced in the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced in the light of the moon.
Written by Edward Lear
Bear in There
There’s a Polar Bear
In our Frigidaire –
He likes it ‘cause it’s cold in there.
With his seat in the meat
And his face in the fish
And his big hairy paws
In the buttery dish,
He’s nibbling the noodles,
He’s slurping the soda,
He’s licking the ice.
And he lets out a roar
If you open the door.
And it gives me a scare
To know that he’s in there –
That Polary Bear
In our Fridgitydaire.
Written by Shel Silverstein.
My Dog Has Got No Manners
My dog has got no manners
I think he’s rather rude.
He always whines at dinnertime
While we are eating food.
And when he’s feeling thirsty
And wants to take a drink,
He takes it from the toilet
Instead of from the sink.
He never wears a pair of pants.
He doesn’t wear a shirt.
But worse, he will not shower
To wash away the dirt.
He’s not polite to strangers.
He bites them on the rear.
And when I’m on the telephone,
He barks so I can’t hear.
When I complained to Mummy,
She said “I thought you knew:
The reason that his manners stink –
He learns by watching you”.
By Bruce Lansky.
Parts of Speech poem
A noun is called,
A person, place or thing.
Some examples include,
Teacher, desk, and ring.
A verb is an action,
Something you can do.
Run, jump and walk,
Are examples you can use.
Adjectives are descriptions,
Like black, red, and blue.
Old, young, and large,
Are good examples too.
Adverbs are words
Used to modify,
Other verbs and adjectives,
And mostly end in “ly”.
On to prepositions,
They have a lot to do.
They give a location
Like on, under or through.
Pronouns are special
They replace nouns
He, she and they
Are some that are found.
Conjunction, junction
What say you?
Combining sentences,
That’s what we do.
Interjections are special,
Yes, it’s true,
They get punctuation, Wahoo!!
This is written by an anonymous writer.
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods, fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Written by Robert Frost
Some of the above poems are suitable for children, some for beginners and some for more advanced students. Audio poems will also help with pronunciation, intonation and rhythm which is so important when learning a new language. Make a note of all new vocabulary, look up all the new words in a dictionary and learn their meanings. A good dictionary will also show you how to pronounce the new words and also expand your vocabulary. There are many ways to find poems to read and listen to either by buying books or using the Internet to discover new poems. Enjoy all the varied poems out there to choose from starting with easy poems and progressing to longer and more complicated poems. Some poems will make you laugh, others will give you a picture to think about In and some can be educational, but they all make interesting reading. All poems will help you learn new English vocabulary.
