The Best Words in the Best Order

Henry Nelson Coleridge, nephew of the famous English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, took notes about things he heard Samuel say at gatherings of family and friends from 1822 to 1834. He figured they might someday be worthwhile biographical records about the life of his famous uncle. After Samuel’s death, Henry published the notes, bringing to light one of history’s most oft repeated quotes about poetry: “I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry. That is, prose equals words in their best order; poetry equals the best words in the best order.” And while we certainly have a lot of “words in their best order” in our collection of fairytales and folktales, you’d be surprised how many of those pieces of prose toe the line of poetry. Whether it’s short, repeated phrases (“I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow the house down”), rhymes (“Jack and Jill went up the hill”), or even just the performative style of speaking (“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!”), poetry fits right into the fairytale crowd. So today, we’ve pulled out a whole stanza of poetic folktales and rhymes from our library, from the naturalist poetry of Doug Elliott to the rhymed adventures of Linda Gorham. Join us on a rhythmic journey to the land where poetry and prose meet: the land of storytelling. On today’s episode, enjoy the following: “Frogs, Guardians of Water” by Doug Elliott (12:57) This poetic creation story recounts the history of water.  When the creatures of the earth begin to take their water for granted, the wells of life run dry—literally and figuratively. Will the great council of animals be able to restore the flow of the creator’s greatest gift? And who will the council select to guard that gift forever more? Well, the title should give you a pretty good hint. This story is from the famous naturalist Doug Elliott’s collection of bush folktales called Bullfrogs on Your Mind. See if you can catch the quick, four-line poems that Doug sneaks into this story—sometimes they’re over bef