Philip Gross offers thoughts on role of poetry in education
Writer and academic Philip Gross has suggested poetry can be easier to integrate into the education of pre-teens, compared to when youngsters hit puberty.
He explained to the Western Mail that there are a lot of big emotions that teens have to deal with that means a certain type of poetry becomes common.
In his view, the junior school years are some of the best times to introduce the art form to kids, since children will often be "wildly creative".
"Toddlers laugh at the sound of a rhyme; kids learning language quickly love to see that new sense turned on its head, as nonsense," the University of Glamorgan tutor told the publication.
Professor Gross jokingly suggested banning poetry in schools, since that way it might become an underground art form that children would share in private.
The poet recently won the TS Eliot Prize and Wales Book of the Year, while his Off Road to Everywhere children's book landed him a Campaign for Literacy in Primary Education Award.
Among his published poetry are The Water Table, I Spy Pinhole Eye and The Egg of Zero.
