الفهرس 
Animals in Child Development Theories
Cognitive DevelopmentOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
This is a crossover research where two poetic voices are
brought into close relation with one another on the one hand, and with
both realms of child development and ecology on the other. It aims at
examining the effect of children’s interactions with the poetic animals
they meet on the course of their development. Throughout the
conducted research, it is evident that engagement with poetic animals
‒real and imaginary‒ is linked to all aspects of development.
Tracking animals in the area of children’s poetry, with the aim
of gaining a proper understanding of their potential impact, requires a
crossing of the boundaries separating these three constituent strands:
animals, children, and literature. Human-animal studies which
emerged in the late 1990s fills this interdisciplinary niche as it
addresses the multidimensional relationships between humans and
other animals. This can be seen in the research conducted around the
human-animal bond, the emergence of trans-species psychology, and
the trending of critical animal studies.
The medium of poetry is particularly chosen as the focus of the
study for it has the power to seep into the child’s subconscious. Poetry
is regarded as a natural language of children; since they tend to delight
in rhyme, rhythm, and other elements of musicality. On top of that,
poetry speaks directly to their active imagination. Because of its ability
to summon up animal images via metaphors, poetry is believed to be a
literary gateway into the world of animals. It is the common ground
where both humans and animals can meet halfway; allowing children
to be addressed by the gaze of an animal. This research is thus concerned with how children’s poetry presents animals and what
sensations it carries into the mindset of the child.
The first chapter looks into the numerous roles animals play in
the various domains of child development. It starts with Gail F.
Melson’s thorough investigation of the relationship between animals
and children. The discussion proceeds towards identifying the relevant
aspects of development with respect to children’s interactions with
literary animals. Ecopoetics is also brought up in connection with the
recommended biocentric approach.
In this context, the next two chapters explore the
developmental significance of animals as portrayed in the poetry for
children of two major poets from across the cultural continuum—
Ahmad Shawqy and Ted Hughes. In chapter two entitled “Meeting
with Shawqy’s Animals!”, the work of the far-famed Egyptian poet
laureate Ahmad Shawqy (1868-1932) is closely analysed. Shawqy’s
fifty-six poems provide interesting dimensions to the animal characters
carrying his socio-political messages. The fundamental question about
the human-animal bond is addressed as well as the underlying
environmental concerns.
A detailed reading is conducted of Britain’s former poet
laureate Ted Hughes (1930-1998) in chapter three “Hughes Capturing
Animals”. It deals with Hughes’s seven major children’s collections:
The Mermaid’s Purse, The Cat and the Cuckoo, Meet my Folks!,
Moon-Whale and Other Moon Poems, Under the North Star, What Is
the Truth?, and Season Songs. They represent successive stages of an
ecopoetic quest marked by environmental underpinnings and activities. They are examined in the light of the prevailing
cognitive and socio-emotional, as well as moral and ethical, rules and
values in child development.
In keeping with the attempts to understand and eventually
bridge both the species and cultural divides, the two worlds of poetry
created by Ahmad Shawqy and Ted Hughes are placed side by side.
Their detected similarities and differences are viewed from an
integrative holistic perspective. The different contexts and purposes of
both poets laureate determine the impact of the depicted animals.
Shawqy’s animals can be traced back to the tradition of Arabic poetry
and that of fables. On the other hand, Hughes’s evocations of animals
take root in his early engagement with nature and are steeped in mythic
imagination.
The roles animals play in children’s cognitive, self, socioemotional,
and moral development as charted by Gail Melson are
present to varying degrees in the poetry of Shawqy and Hughes. The
two poets engage the child’s senses through visual and auditory images
that portray animals. Whereas Shawqy relies on symbols and reasoning
all through the fables, Hughes pays attention to training the inner eye,
i.e. the imagination and presents what-if situations asking the child to
consider the animals’ perspectives.
Animals of both poets play a key role in the construction of the
child’s sense of self. Shawqy’s humanised animals represent good and
evil; personifying the vices and follies to be avoided and presenting
the counter behaviours which are to be adopted. Hughes, on the other
hand, subtly persuades the child to accept the natural energies as an essential facet of the self through animals, the embodiment of life
force. There is also an emphasis placed by Hughes on the construction
of a clear ecological sense of self that forges a link between the child’s
human self and the surrounding multispecies family. As children
engage with ecologically concerned texts, they develop the more
empathetic sense of ecocitizenship.
Regarding the moral domain, both poets tackle the issue of
cruelty towards animals. Cruelty to the animal kingdom is manifest in
the stark juxtaposition between the heartless human hunter and
peaceful animals presented by both Shawqy and Hughes. Describing
chased, captive, and dying animals helps children make their way into
their wounds and pain of others. Such poems should hit the child’s
capacities for animal-directed empathy and pull moral reasoning in the
biocentric direction.
Despite the variation and contradictions, it can be said that the
two examined bodies of poetry build on children’s sense of awe at
nature to promote nurturing relationships with animals. A healthy
relationship with the outward natural world would necessarily turn
children inward to continue self-exploration. This way, the power of
children’s poetry is underscored as a catalyst in connecting children to
their inner world of fancy in relation to the real and tangible world
around.