![]() More: while heaven forbid that I ever would abuse my role as trusted child-minder and become a propagandist for sound economics, I did on one occasion introduce the term and the concept of “opportunity cost” to the vocabulary and thinking of my charges by explaining that the “cost” of viewing “Diff’rent Strokes” was not hearing Uncle John reading “The Pied Piper of Hamelin.” The success of this exercise was testified to by an agitated telephone call from my sister, who informed me that ten-year-old Patrick had reduced his class-teacher to despair by challenging the justice of a half-hour detention to which he and a fellow miscreant had been sentenced. As a doting uncle not infrequently charged with the welcome task of minding my nephew and nieces, the poem has enabled me to lure Kristine, Elizabeth, and Patrick away from the television set for what I fondly imagine is culturally a more edifying experience. ![]() ![]() The poem tells an exciting story and tells it well, Browning’s choice of words and use of meter reflecting and reinforcing the events described. ![]() One of the most delightful poems ever penned is Robert Browning’s “The Pied Piper of Hamelin.” Children delight in hearing it. Williams has been a teacher and currently does freelance writing and lecturing from his base in North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ![]()
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