Storytelling Starters ~ Haunting
Encouraged by comments on last week’s blog – that the poem was haunting and so, so sad – I reached down my box-file labelled Songs, Poems, Sayings. In it, I found much I’d forgotten and much I felt I’d like to share – rhymes for Early Years children, chants and sayings to introduce storytelling sessions and also several other haunting poems. Here’s one of them: Green Candles by Humbert Wolfe.
Green Candles:
‘There’s someone at the door,’ said gold candlestick;
Let her in, let her in quick!’
‘There is a small hand groping at the handle:
Why don’t you turn it?’ asked green candle.
‘Don’t go, don’t go,’ said the Hepplewhite chair,
lest you find a strange lady there.’
‘Yes, stay where you are,’ whispered the white wall,
there is nobody there at all.’
‘I know her little foot,’ grey carpet said:
Who but I should know her light tread?’
‘She shall come in,’ answered the open door,
‘and not,’ said the room, ‘go out any more.’
Like last week’s poem, Green Candles is a ghost story too. It’s spoken by different items in what sounds like a rather neglected, old-fashioned room. To be most effective when spoken aloud, the voices of these characters – gold candlestick, green candle, Hepplewhite chair, white wall, grey carpet, open door, room – need to be distinguished from each other. As with any narrative, this can effetively be done by using higher or lower tones, varied pacing and louder or softer volume.
I can vouch that the poem works with children: it has lots of atmosphere and also, if you want, gives plenty to talk about. Who is the strange lady? Why is she going into the room? What is she looking for?
Besides, I like the way in which the poem animates objects. Somehow it reminds me of a Chinese story I once came across – something about a lamp and a floor-brush that, one morning, are found in strange positions. The lamp is smashed, the floor-brush lying forlornly on the floor. What has been going on? The previous night, sounds of a vehement quarrel had come from a locked room next door. What has been going on? Well, I’ve looked in some of my other file-boxes. But can I find that story? Alas, no. I’ll have to leave it with you.
PS: We like candles and candlesticks in our house. My top photo is of one of them. The bottom photo is of a Hepplewhite chair (not ours!)
PPS: A Hepplewhite chair is one designed by George Hepplewhite, a Georgian cabinetmaker and furniture designer whose designs are still sought after today. The dining chair in the picture dates from about 1800.