Dr. Seuss Dissent
Dec 24th, 2008 by MPC Press
We didn’t expect to be flooded with feedback after citing the possible imperfection of Dr. Seuss rhymes: Should Rhymes Include Only “Real” Words? December 17, 2008 But opinions there were, and total disagreement…In fact, we did not hear from a single reader who found Dr. Seuss’s rhyming schemes flawed. No one had a problem with rhyming “My throne shall be higher!” his royal voice thundered with “So pile up more turtles! I want ’bout two hundred!” And no one had any issues with manufactured words, many that Dr. Seuss likely created only for the sake of rhyme, and few that have found their way into the dictionary. Perhaps it is time to overhaul Webster’s and add “enormance” and “whuffed“? Truly, we (but not my mother) are defenders of the great Doctor and we were only trying to ask, “What is a rhyme?” and “Should a writer create nonsensical words when he has the opportunity to teach children new vocabulary?” In terms of feedback, one clearly educated reader, from Summit, Mississippi, wrote: “I too believe REAL vocabulary is essential and powerful…but like Seuss, I lam a lover of nonsense….and nonsense can bring wonderful giggles and encourage creativity and stimulate a love for literature of all kinds….Nonsense, I believe, can develop deliciously even when using ”real” words…and adding rhythm.”
Interestingly, Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) really was an innovator in terms of expanding the vocabulary of children. According to Wikipedia, Dr. Seuss and his publisher were influenced by a 1954 Life magazine report on illiteracy among school children, “which concluded that children were not learning to read because their books were boring.” The publisher apparently took 348 words he thought important and asked Dr. Seuss to cut the list to 250 words and write a book using only those words. The Cat in the Hat used 236 of the 250 words, and was a success to say the least, with its simple vocabulary providing a fun and interesting read for young children.
