The Swing Lyrics
Four of the twelve lines begin "Up in the air", and the poem swings just like its title: up over the wall to see the river, the trees and the cattle, then down to the green garden and the brown roof. Stevenson wrote it for children who love a swing.
The Swing
How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside -
Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown -
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/the-swing/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Robert Louis Stevenson
- Tune
- Read with a rise and fall, louder on 'up' and softer on 'down'
- Best for ages
- 2 to 7 years
What Does The Swing Mean?
The poem opens with a question to the listener, "How do you like to go up in a swing?", and answers it at once: it is the pleasantest thing a child can do. The rest describes what the swinger sees. At the top of the arc the view opens out over the wall: a river, trees, cattle and the countryside. On the way down the view closes in again, to the garden green and the roof below.
The shape of the poem is the swing's path. Count the lines that start with "Up in the air" and the poem rises four times. The two lines that begin "Till I look down" and "Down on" are the dips, and the very last line, "Up in the air and down!", does both in one breath, as a swing does when it reaches the top and turns.
The speaker is a child talking about the joy of the ride, so the poem works well when read as the swing moves.
History and Origin
This poem was first collected in print in 1885, in Stevenson's book for young readers. Who he was, and who the book honours, is told in The Land of Counterpane.
Learning Activities
- Read on the swing: read a line on each push, and let the child shout "up" and "down" at the right moments.
- Spot the view: at the top of each swing, ask the child to name one thing they can see, then compare the answers with the poem's list of river, trees and cattle.
- Count the ups: clap each time a line starts with "Up in the air", then check the count against the page.
- Swing with your arms: sit on the floor and swing both arms forward and back to the beat of the poem.