Kookoorookoo! Kookoorookoo! Lyrics
A rooster crows in the dark, "Kookoorookoo!", and the poem answers with "Kikirikee!", then the sky turns pink, the early birds start to sing and the day is "springing". Eight lines by Christina Rossetti that work as a short morning chorus.
Kookoorookoo! Kookoorookoo!
"Kookoorookoo! kookoorookoo!"
Crows the cock before the morn
"Kikirikee! kikirikee!"
Roses in the east are born.
"Kookoorookoo! kookoorookoo!"
Early birds begin their singing;
"Kikirikee! kikirikee!"
The day, the day, the day is springing.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/kookoorookoo-kookoorookoo/
- Type
- Poems for Children, Animal Rhymes
- Written by
- Christina Rossetti
- Tune
- Loud and cheerful on the crowing lines, hushed and growing on the dawn lines
- Best for ages
- 2 to 7 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Kookoorookoo! kookoorookoo! | Tuck your elbows in like wings and call out the crow in a big voice. |
| Kikirikee! kikirikee! | Call back with a higher, faster crow. |
| The day, the day, the day is springing | Crouch low and rise slowly on tiptoe, arms lifting like the sun coming up. |
What Does Kookoorookoo! Kookoorookoo! Mean?
A cock is a rooster, and roosters crow as it gets light. The poem writes that sound out in two spellings, Kookoorookoo and Kikirikee, and each is said twice. The two spellings alternate down the page, so the reader hears the crow and its echo.
The second and fourth lines of each verse say what the crow is announcing. The first verse has the cock crowing "before the morn", and "roses in the east are born". The east is where the sun comes up, and the roses are the pink and red colours of early light in the sky. The poet pictures the dawn as a flower garden opening in the east. Next the "early birds begin their singing", and the day "is springing", an old way of saying that it is starting up, like a spring of water from the ground. The words "the day" are said three times in a row in the last line, as if the day were arriving.
Because the crowing lines are all sound, a child can join in at once, even before they know the other words.
History and Origin
Christina Rossetti (1830 to 1894) is best known to adults for the long poem Goblin Market, published in 1862. This poem is from a different book, Sing-Song, written for the nursery. Its sounds are the point: the rooster's crow comes first in each verse, before any words explain it.
It is the poem's use of two spellings for one sound that sets it apart. There is no way to know from the page how the poet said them, so a family can say them in whatever way sounds right.
Learning Activities
- Dawn chorus: one child is the rooster and calls the crow lines; the others answer with the sung lines about the early birds.
- Wake-up game: start with everyone crouched and quiet, and stand up slowly as the day springs.
- Paint the dawn: use pink, orange and yellow to paint the 'roses in the east' above a dark hill.
- Crow your own: ask each child to make up a new crow spelling and say it aloud.