Poetry by Age Group

I fondly imagined, when I started developing the Peculiar Poetry website, that it would be possible to produce an integrated poetry site with different sections of poems for different age groups of reader. It quickly became clear that this approach would cause practical, perhaps even moral, difficulties. There are therefore two separate sites featuring the work of the same two poet's, Patrick Winstanley and Paul Curtis, for different age groups of reader. This site, Peculiar Poetry, is intended for teenagers and adults, whereas is its counterpart, Funny Poems for Children, is intended for younger readers.

Practical and Moral Problems

This may not inspire you with confidence, but very often when I am writing a poem and, indeed, sometimes even when I have completed it, I'm not entirely sure for which age group it is most suitable. There are around 50 poems which appear on both websites, having been adjudged to have appeal for both adult and child readers. The presentation of the same poem on the two websites may, however, differ significantly. How to Sex a Dinosaur is found quite innocuously amongst the animal poems on the Peculiar Poetry site, whereas on the children's poetry site it is placed amongst the rudest of the rude poems, with appropriate warnings as to its suitability for young children. Some poems exist in both adult and child versions. The children's version of Tickled Pink is probably ruder than the adult version, but is written in language that appeals particularly to children. This leaves around 30 poems which appear only on the children's poetry site, being considered too juvenile (although who am I to judge?) for teenage and adult readers and around 200 poems which only appear on this adult poetry site, being considered wholly unsuitable for children.

Children's Poetry

The Funny Poems for Children site is aimed at 3 to 11 year olds, which in the UK corresponds to pre-school and primary school children, and is intended to be both entertaining and educational. The site includes a selection of rude poems, but that section of the site is heavily flagged with warnings so that children should not stumble upon them unawares.

Mind the Gap

Peculiar Poetry is a collection of poems for teens and adults, which means that there is something of a gap between the two collections. Most 11 and 12 year olds will rightly feel that they have outgrown the Children's Poetry site, but may not yet be ready for the no holds barred approach used in Peculiar Poetry. I don't consider that the poems would present a particular moral danger to this age group of reader, but neither would I endorse them as suitable for pre-teenagers.

Adult and Teen Poetry

Peculiar Poetry a collection of poems for teens and adults, which encompasses funny, romantic and erotic verse. The language and imagery used in some of the poems is graphic in nature, but the site is not littered with expletives or gratuitously unpleasant. It is, in reality, likely to offend many more adults than it is teenagers, but anyone with a sensitive disposition or or inhabiting moral high ground is advised to proceed with extreme caution.