Aaron and I are trying to memorize a poem each week. Here's the first one we are working on. I've got the first four lines down and will have at least the next four by the time the night is over. Memorizing is really nice because it gives me something lovely going round my head instead of those tired eighties pop songs or whatever other clutter shifts around up there.
I wanted to start with this poem for that very reason. I have noticed that my mind easily calls up catchy advertising jingles or lyrics to bad love songs with chilling accuracy at the slightest whim. For instance, if you say "goldfish" I will happily sing the goldfish cracker theme song for the next three days. But the more profound and beautiful thoughts can be left a little lonely.
The World is too Much with Us; Late and Soon
THE world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.
William Wordsworth, 1806.
3 comments:
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That's very cool--memorizing poetry is one of the best things a person can do! The art of memorization is one that has sadly been lost in recent decades...
Kudos for beginning with a great Romantic poet!
I wish memorizing were as easy for me today as it was when I was a kid. I think school has nuked my brain. Good Luck--I think you'll learn a lot of poems.
What a cool thing to do together! For Christmas, my dad asks us not to get him a present, but instead to memorize a poem. It's a lot of fun.
So true how pop lyrics just stick in the mind - maybe the music reinforces it. I once had "Girlfriend in a Coma" by The Smiths stuck in my head for a full week.
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