We said a few days ago that to introduce children into poetry we were not going to start with complicated poets or themes inaccessible to them, but how about a poem of princesses, fairies and dragons? The "Sonatina" by Rubén Darío, that poem that begins with "The princess is sad, what will the princess have?" It is ideal for kids and this cartoon video fascinates them.
You will be surprised when the verses hum and ask you to sing them. Even, humming poetry yourself. It is a poem of childish tone, but without underestimating the poetic style, with metaphors and other resources that make the "Sonatina" one of the most popular of the poet.
The poem is missing a couple of stanzas (the most complicated for children, with educated references) and has made some concessions by changing some words to be more understandable by the kids, but maintaining the essence of the poem, than when set in a castle with a princess turns out very close to the fantasy world of children and fairy tales.
The illustrations are very literal (and that's why we see strawberries coming out of the princess's mouth), but ideal for children, who see the story represented in drawings.
Here you have the complete verses of Rubén Darío and I recommend seeing with your children "The princess is sad" by Rubén Darío. They will love it and will be encouraged to know other poems.
The princess is sad ... What will the princess have? Sighs escape from his strawberry mouth, which has lost laughter, which has lost color. The princess is pale in her golden chair, the keypad of her sound code is mute, and in a glass, forgotten, a flower faints. The garden populates the triumph of the peacocks. Parlanchina, the owner says banal things, and dressed in red lollipops the jester. The princess does not laugh, the princess does not feel; the princess pursues the vague dragonfly of a vague illusion through the sky of the East. Do you think, perhaps, of the prince of Golconda or of China, or of the one who has stopped his Argentine float to see from his eyes the sweetness of light? Or in the king of the islands of fragrant roses, or in which he is sovereign of the clear diamonds, or in the proud owner of the pearls of Hormuz? Oh, the poor princess of the mouth of pink wants to be a swallow, wants to be a butterfly, have light wings, under the sky fly; go to the sun by the light scale of a lightning bolt, greet the lilies with the May verses or get lost in the wind over the thunder of the sea. He no longer wants the palace, nor the silver spinning wheel, nor the haunted hawk, nor the scarlet jester, nor the unanimous swans in the azure lake. And the flowers are sad for the flower of the court, the jasmine of the East, the nelumbos of the North, the dahlias and the roses of the South. Poor little blue-eyed princess! It is imprisoned in its golds, it is imprisoned in its tules, in the marble cage of the royal palace; the magnificent palace guarded by the guards, guarding a hundred blacks with their hundred halberds, a slug that does not sleep and a colossal dragon. Oh! Blessed is the hypsipyle which left the chrysalis! (The princess is sad. The princess is pale.) Oh adored vision of gold, rose and ivory! Who will fly to the land where a prince exists, (The princess is pale. The princess is sad.) Brighter than dawn, more beautiful than April! - "Shut up, shut up, princess," says the Fairy Godmother; "on horseback, with wings, this is where the sword is headed, and in the hand the azor, the happy knight who loves you without seeing you, and who comes from away, winner of Death, to light your lips with a kiss of love. "
Video | Youtube
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