POETRY AND CHILDHOOD: THE EXPERIENCE OF PLAYING WITH WORDS

Abstract

Thinking about the relation of the child with the poetry, or the child's play with words is the main objective of this article. Such reflections are crossed by fundamental concepts of part of the work by the German philosopher Walter Benjamin and constitute the dialogue with poetic works by Brazilian writers, such as José Paulo Paes, Manoel de Barros, Arnaldo Antunes, Ferreira Gullar, Paulo Leminski, as well as works by the Portuguese writer and illustrator Afonso Cruz, and by the French teacher, poet and writer Jean-Pierre Siméon. From these works, we try to provoke reflection on the relationship between poetry and childhood within educational institutions, asking what poets teach us and how to teach poetry to children. It implies considering the specificities of the relation that young children establish with the world and the things that inhabit it, in other words, how children learn and what we can learn from them.