Tyger Tyger Issue 7 – People and Characters, May 2024

Welcome to the seventh issue of Tyger Tyger Magazine, the People and Characters edition!

These twelve new poems are bursting with character and characters! Meet the Giant of Jack and the Beanstalk fame and hear his side of the “Fee, Fie, Foe, Fum” of it all. Find out about different types of heroism with Sir Percival Knight and his noble horse, and then step into the whirlwind shoes of a busy teacher – just don’t mention the printer… Meet a boy called Mark, who is a most marvellous mate, and a pirate Grandma with exhilarating tales to tell (just how tall those tales are – well, that’s for you to decide). Learn about the sensational careers of four great women of sport, cleverly encapsulated in playful clerihews, and then skip around the playground singing with a beloved school dinner lady. See, in your mind’s eye, the beautiful creations a father makes for his daughter using colour, plants, love and imagination, then jump back in time to 19th century Lyme Regis to sing of the legendary Mary Anning. Scrutinise the invoice delivered by the Emperor’s tailors for his new clothes and see if you can spot what’s missing, then encounter the big bad wolf of fairytale in a different, deeply poignant context. And finally, step back into prehistory and follow a young speaker into a cave that will become a canvas…

Each poem is available as a free poem-poster to download, print and display, and there are free teaching resources around ‘As Told by the Giant’ by Stefan Karlsson, ‘My Mate, Mark’ by Helen Dineen, and ‘Great Women of Sport Clerihews’ by Lorraine Mariner.