A dementia-friendly selection of much-loved verses by British poets

Sometimes it’s hard to maintain conversation with a loved one, as so much of our chit-chat relies on short-term memory. “How has your week been? Did you go to the concert? Did you get outside yesterday?” These are normal, friendly questions, but are challenging for anyone living with memory loss or confusion.

The solution for those who have been poetry-lovers: excerpts from classic poems by great poets, with beautiful scenic photographs, to encourage shared reading, discussion and connection. There have been a number of studies on the value of poetry in shared reading for people living with dementia. These highlight the importance of the rhythm, the rhyme and the familiarity of the verses. Just as important are the profound messages captured in a few words and the experience of sharing this with another person.

If you’ve ever recited poetry at school, you may remember some of these poems – and if you’re not from that generation, you’ll find them easy to read out loud with a loved one.

There are verses from classic poets like Tennyson, Longfellow, Yeats, Emily Dickinson, Rudyard Kipling…

40 pages, extra large font, in a bright, slim, light 8 × 10 paperback, one of a series of Illustrated Classic Poetry titles. There is no reference to dementia or other illness inside the book or on the cover. The back cover says simply: A selection of classic British nature poetry. Keep your mind active as you read aloud or read along!

You can find Illustrated Read-Aloud Poetry on Amazon by clicking on this universal link: https://mybook.to/ReadAloudPoems  – or why not try your local library? (Tell them it’s ISBN number 9781922191649.)