A Civil World. Off-topic discussions on a variety of topics. > Time For a Coffee Break!

By rote

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Flora Louise:
What adult poems, songs or other works do you have committed forever to memory because you memorized them as a child? For me, it's Lincoln's letter to Mrs. Bixby and Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog by Oliver Goldsmith.

guihong:
Well, I had to recite this exerpt from The Song of Hiawatha in 4th grade:

By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them;
Bright before it beat the water,
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.

I can't say I always remember it by rote, but given the first line, and the rest can come pouring back :)

JennJenn68:
For me, it's soliloquies from Shakespearean plays that I had to learn in high school.  The one that sticks the most and that I never forget is the "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow..." soliloquy from Macbeth, although there are other passages that hang around in my mind and refuse to be erased.  Yet d'you think I can remember my cell phone number or my current passwords?  Rats!

mrs_deb:
Do the titles of the books of the New Testament count  ;D?

Outdoor Girl:
'In Flander's Fields' for me.  I recite it every November 11th, if only to myself.

My Dad is incredible; he is 78 now and can still recite things he learned in grade school.  There is a particular poem he can recite that is about autumn that I love.  But he can also recite things he's learned more recently.  There is a 'Volunteer's Prayer' that he does every year at a reception for all the volunteers that do Meals on Wheels delivery and organization in his town.  And he can recite 'In Flander's Fields', too.

And mrs_deb?  That totally counts. :)

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