The Enid Blyton Society

I expect many of us will have read this already in the thread devoted to the Teacher's World letters, but just wanted to add the delightful seasonal poem from this week's letter (originally published May 13, 1931), as it was apparently never republished anywhere else:


Summer!

When the sea is as blue as the sky overhead,
And the gorse is as bright as the sun,
When daisies are scattered wherever I tread,
And young rabbits lollop and run
Here, there and everywhere down the hillside,
And pop in their holes when they think they are spied,
I know that summer is come!

When the cuckoo is calling again and again,
And swallows are twittering low,
When the hawthorn is blossoming all down the lane,
And everywhere buttercups grow,
When bluebells are wakening under the trees,
And jingle their bells in the frolicsome breeze,
I know that summer is come!

I thoroughly enjoyed this poem in Enid Blyton's Teachers World letters page, today. It expresses the cheerfulness of Summer, beautifully.

I found this lovely little poem in The Big Bedtime Book.

Now I'm Happy

I'm hidden in my favourite nook,
I've got my very nicest book,
I've brought an apple red to eat,
I've kicked my sandals off my feet,
Please don't come and look for me,
I'm just as HAPPY as can be!


I suspect it could apply to many of us forumites at times.

I just found this sweet little poem in The Book of Fairies - originally published in 1924, so among the earliest of Enid's works:

A REAL FRIEND

I saw a robin yesterday,
With broken wing,
He cheeped beneath the hawthorn hedge,
Too sad to sing.

And as I watched, a fairy came,
With crumbs of bread,
She kissed him on his little beak,
And stroked his head.

I heard her tiny, tinkling voice,
"Now, one, two, three!
I'll lift your wing from off the ground,
Please lean on me!"

And off the tiny couple went,
Between the grass,
I kept as still as still could be,
And watched them pass.

And now to-day, the bird can fly
With both his wings,
He darts around his fairy friend,
And sings and SINGS!

We had a deluge in South-East England yesterday, but the sun was shining this morning and I thought of this:

After the Rain

I always look down from my window,
When the sun comes out after the rain;
There's the loveliest things to be found there,
And I've seen them again and again.

There's the roof slanting down from the window,
It's shiny and wet as can be,
And the queer changing colours are lovely,
Pink, purple and brown I can see.
There's the beech tree with glittering raindrops,
That shine like a gem when they fall,
There's the moss gleaming greener than ever,
And the thrush singing sweet on the wall.
The puddles are flashing like mirrors,
And so are the pools down the lane,
So I always look down from my window,
When the sun comes out after the rain!

That's a favourite of mine too, Kate! A pleasing rhythm and images.

it's a favourite of mine too - a great selection of images. Unfortunately we are having weather more like this today -

The Rain

The rain is falling on the hill
And on the field and lane,
With silver fingers, wet and chill,
It taps our window pane!
Pitter-patter, sharp and loud,
How many drops run by,
Falling from the purple cloud
Frowning in the sky!

Lovely poems, Robert and Kate Mary. Which books/collections do they come from, by the way? I'm not familiar with that many of Enid's poems.

Yesterday with the weather in Kent, we could have also had Enid's poem "Poor Rosamunda! / She doesn't like thunder..." - which I had in a short story collection years ago, but can't remember the whole of it. It contrasts two girls, one hiding and shivering with fear as the thunder rolls overhead, the other one at the window watching the storm in wonder and delight. Does anyone else here know it, and could you please share it if you do?

Here it is -

I have it in 'When The Moon Was Blue and other stories' (A tell-a-story book from 1988 but it was in several other versions of the Tell-A-Story' range over the years).

Poor Rosamunda!

Poor Rosamunda!
She doesn't like thunder,
And under the table she goes.
She shivers and shakes
And trembles and quakes,
She's a silly as everyone knows!

But our Rosalindo
Is up by the window,
Watching the storm in the sky,
Lighting and thunder
Oh what a wonder
To see the clouds galloping by!

Yes, that's exactly the book I had it in! Thanks, Rob. A simple poem, but it carries Enid's frequent theme of encouraging children to love and marvel at the natural world. I remember I liked the illustrations in that copy, one of each girl on two facing pages with their respective verse.

It's easy to check what book a poem comes from, Courtney, just look in the Cave! After the Rain first appeared in Real Fairies and later in Enid Blyton's Treasury of Verse. I think it also turns up on the Monthly Enid Blyton page occasionally.

My favourite part of the cave is the Teachers World in the Periodicals section. There is such a wealth of uncollected material there that Tony has made available to us. I came across this poem and in case you have missed it I thought I would post it here:

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/blyt ... &perid=109" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thank you that was great.
I agree,the work that Tony has done in providing the Cave is phenomenal.

That is a beautiful poem! Did Enid ever visit India herself, by the way, or was she just imagining it from other writers' descriptions? Either way, she writes about it wonderfully evocatively!

'An Indian Day' is beautiful and I like the Phyllis Chase illustrations too.

Another poem full of enchanting images which appeared in The Teachers World is 'The Silver Moon', printed on 14th October 1931:

The silver moon sails in the night-blue sky,
And round her the stars are pale;
Whenever a wisp of cloud floats by
She makes it into a veil.

The rivers and pools are her mirrors bright,
And through the long night they hold
A host of moons, all silvery-white,
Little and round and cold.

The moon looks down on the gleaming waters,
Smiles at the little moons there,
Proud of her myriad shining daughters,
Wearing the stars in their hair!

Then gracefully down the sky she goes,
Glimmering, pale and wan,
And when in the east the sunlight glows
The silvery moon is gone!