A Poem to Teach a Child
We live in an age of information. Too much information can swamp the boat of wonder, especially for a child.
From a science book we might learn that a flying bat might snap up 15 insects per minute, or that the frequency of its squeal can range as high as 50,000 cycles per second. Useful information, yes.
But consider the information in this poem from Randall Jarrell's "The Bat Poet":
A bat is born
Naked and blind and pale.
His mother makes a pocket of her tail
And catches him. He clings to her long fur
By his thumbs and toes and teeth.
And then the mother dances through the night
Doubling and looping, soaring, somersaulting--
Her baby hangs on underneath.
What wondrous information! Even the rhythm of the poem ("naked and blind and pale"; "thumbs and toes and teeth") mimics the flight of mother and child, doubling and looping in the night.
Notes:
We are drowning in facts, instead, give children wonder.
Folksonomies: education wonder
Taxonomies:
/technology and computing (0.577337)
/travel/travel guides (0.575247)
/family and parenting/children (0.574973)
Keywords:
information (0.978721 (positive:0.487741)), Randall Jarrell (0.867910 (neutral:0.000000)), Bat Poet (0.855447 (neutral:0.000000)), science book (0.812757 (neutral:0.000000)), long fur (0.804022 (neutral:0.000000)), mother dances (0.787247 (positive:0.305264)), wondrous information (0.777359 (positive:0.715107)), Useful information (0.755846 (positive:0.538885)), poem (0.717971 (negative:-0.483883)), child (0.610191 (negative:-0.386934)), thumbs (0.522935 (neutral:0.000000)), toes (0.522541 (neutral:0.000000)), teeth (0.485580 (neutral:0.000000)), night (0.407277 (positive:0.305264)), squeal (0.390250 (negative:-0.417686)), underneath (0.364871 (neutral:0.000000)), wonder (0.355201 (neutral:0.000000)), tail (0.340903 (neutral:0.000000)), age (0.340791 (positive:0.209231)), facts (0.336766 (negative:-0.483883)), children (0.336382 (neutral:0.000000)), insects (0.334825 (neutral:0.000000)), cycles (0.334295 (negative:-0.417686)), frequency (0.329143 (negative:-0.417686)), pocket (0.327330 (neutral:0.000000)), boat (0.326812 (neutral:0.000000)), rhythm (0.319989 (neutral:0.000000))
Entities:
Randall Jarrell:Person (0.782308 (neutral:0.000000))
Concepts:
Flying and gliding animals (0.941414): dbpedia | freebase
Poetry (0.674622): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Randall Jarrell (0.658160): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc | yago | musicBrainz
Too Much Information (0.656034): dbpedia | freebase | yago
2003 in film (0.652848): dbpedia | yago
Child (0.637571): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Flight (0.627237): dbpedia | freebase
Kings Island (0.615600): geo | website | dbpedia | freebase | yago
Kid lit