Reading Comprehension | Block City | Robert Lewis Stevenson
Posted by Denis Soukhanov on Fri, Oct 23, 2009 @ 09:00 AM
Listen to this poem about a child playing with a set of blocks written by RL Stevenson, a Scottish poet, over 100 years ago.Block City
What are you able to build with your blocks?
Castles and palaces, temples and docks.
Rain may keep raining, and others go roam,
But I can be happy and building at home.
Let the sofa be mountains, the carpet be sea,
There I'll establish a city for me:
A kirk and a mill and a palace beside,
And a harbor as well where my vessels may ride.
Great is the palace with pillar and wall,
A sort of a tower on top of it all,
And steps coming down in an orderly way
To where my toy vessels lie safe in the bay.
This one is sailing and that one is moored:
Hark to the song of the sailors on board!
And see on the steps of my palace, the kings
Coming and going with presents and things!
Here are some questions to ask about the poem:
What is the author pretending to do in the poem?
What is the sofa being used for in the poem?
Listen to the poem again and try to identify all the words that rhyme in the first stanza.
Why do you think the poet wrote this poem?
Try to write your own poem about something you love to do.