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8.7
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The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set --
Or better still, just don't install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we've been,
We've watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone's place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they're hypnotised by it,
Until they're absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink --
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK -- HE ONLY SEES!
'All right!' you'll cry. 'All right!' you'll say,
'But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!'
We'll answer this by asking you,
'What used the darling ones to do?
'How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?'
Have you forgotten? Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:
THEY ... USED ... TO ... READ! They'd READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching 'round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it's Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and-
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There's Mr. Rate and Mr. Mole-
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.
And once they start -- oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.
Roald Dahl
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Read poems about / on: television, children, purple, house, child, joy, fear, lost
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Comments about this poem (Television
by
Roald Dahl
) |
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comments about this poem (Television by
Roald Dahl
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Hussein Ahmed
(1/26/2010 2:37:00 PM) |
'So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.'
One of the best pieces of advice in the modern world. I'm 15 and I grew up mostly without TV. I love reading and used to spend most of my spare time reading. It is true that most people regard the lack of TV as odd, and not having one sometimes makes you a social outcast (people see you as 'weird', and you are alienated when people start discussing TV programs) . However, hardly anybody realises that most of what is on TV is poison. I am infinitely grateful for my parents not keeping a TV in the house and I seriously do not want to think about where I would be today if there was one. I am not exaggerating. Also, please check my poems =P.
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Bickley Wilson
(1/2/2010 2:04:00 PM) |
I sooo agree. Kids today veg out and don't know how to have fun without some technological game, TV, iPod...Reading was one of my greatest pleasures, that, and wandering in the woods. Sometimes I think reading saved my life...B
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Sadath Ali Baig
(12/25/2009 4:37:00 AM) |
Hey folks.... this poem is not against Television.... it is just against uncontrolled Television.
As a victimised parent I do agree with Roald Dahl.....May his soul rest in peace.....
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Heather Forkos
(10/29/2009 10:28:00 AM) |
I loved Roald Dahl's books, which I read as a child, but reading fantasy and watching it on TV are not that different. There is some very clever stuff on TV.
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Ladydread Louis
(8/8/2009 10:58:00 PM) |
very true poem about the tube, it sucks the life out of ppl, and keeps your mind numb. 100% true and right!
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Manas Rastogi
(7/10/2009 10:20:00 AM) |
You are my favourite writer and poet.
I have read all your books.
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J.J. Bradford
(6/7/2009 3:01:00 PM) |
absolutely,100% correct...one of the best things i have ever read, hands down.
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nothing over
(4/27/2009 10:59:00 PM) |
Great poem, check out my poems too
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Roald Dahl
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