For awhile I had “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” memorized, even the Italian epigraph.
I want to memorize “The Raven.”
I also memerized “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” I recited whenever I got the chance. Now occassionally a line or two will occur to me at appropriate times, which I think is pretty cool.
“The Walrus and the Carpenter,” also. Plus some other lengthy childhood favorites, which I keep in my noggin to amuse the five-year-old, including
“The White Knight’s Song” from THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS (also known as “Ways and Means,” and a few other titles
The First Fit from THE HUNTING OF THE SNARK
“The Pobble Who Has No Toes”
“The Quangle-Wangle’s Hat”
“Little Orphant Annie.”
Some shorter stuff too, like “Jabberwocky” and “Father William” and assorted Lear limericks.
And “Mr. Apollinax,” and “Danse Russe,” and “Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening,” and “Leda and the Swan,” and “Ozymandias,” for use when he’s older.
I can get up to “…to Caunterbury with ful devout corage” – but that’s not as good a stopping point. 
I also know the climactic scene of the Miller’s Tale (about 45 lines) – it starts with “This Nicholas was risen for to pisse” and ends with “And turned al his harm into a jape.” This was for a class presentation. (The prof loved it.)
And of course I’ve committed lots of Shakespearean speeches to memory – the longest ones I can think of are Hamlet’s “O what a rogue and peasant slave am I” (2.2) and Richard II’s “I have been studying how I may compare…” (5.5) (I know a lot of Richard II – I wrote my B.A. thesis on it.)
Oh, and I know a lot of lengthy Child ballads (“Matty Groves” has 22 verses, which works out to 88 lines), too…
And plenty of others that I can’t think of. I have a friend who tried to memorize Book I of Paradise Lost, but gave up about 70 lines in. :eek:
Although this thread is full of whimsey
It seems to me more M P SIMSey.
For acting class when I was still in high school I memorized and performed “The Raven.”
Part XXII: Hiawatha’s Departure of
The Song of Hiawatha
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
and
The Jabberwocky
by Lewis Carroll
Fifth or sixth grade if I recall correctly, sadly I no longer remember either in its entirety, just bits and pieces.
The longest that I’ve memorized is probably My Dream" by W.S. Gilbert, the one that starts:
The other night, from cares exempt,
I slept, and what d’you think I dreamt?
I dreamt that somehow I had come
To dwell in topsy-turvydom.
I had memorized The Raven at one point, but I now break down somewhere in stanza seven. I also once knew Kubla Khan.
And here’s the shortest poem that I’ve ever memorized:
Curious fly
Vinegar jug
Slippery Edge
Pickled bug
Jabberwocky, sort of inadvertently. Hey, it’s kinda catchy, and once you realize you know most of it…did The Raven the same way.
Others:[ul] [li]The Cremation of Sam McGee and another Robert Service poem called The Call of Wild when I was hiking in Alaska. []Birches and Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost, both in sixth grade. []The Amazing Dancing Pants [? Not sure I have the title right.] by Shel Silverstein, and [*]“Terrence, This Is Stupid Stuff” by A. E. Housman. [/ul][/li]
I can’t remember most of these, unfortunately, except for Jabberwocky and Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. I’m impressed by the Prufock memorizers–obviously, given the list above, I find it much easier to learn the stuff with a thumpety rhythm.
I had The Raven memorized, and I think I still do. (Just tried to recite it and only tripped up in a couple spots) Yay! I love that poem…
I can still recite Jabberwocky 30 years after I did it for a college class. The longest poem I’ve memorized would be The Yarn of the ‘Nancy Bell’ that I was prompted to look up by an incident when I was working the ore boats.
**The Cat In the Hat ** & **How The Grinch Stole Xmas ** Out of habit reading them to my children.
and the ever popular: Twas the Night Before Christmas
And lesser known:** Twas the Night before Thanksgiving **(kid’s book.)
I momorized the entire Star-Spangled Banner as written by F. S. Key. But have forgotten it. I’m also in the process of forgetting the Battle Hymn of the Republic.
Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer (I think). I got bored one summer day and memorized it within a few hours.
Probably Poe’s “The Raven.” Has always been a fave…
Prufrock is my favorite, still remember some, but not all. It’s like a lovely song, really.
Shortest:
“Fleas”
Fleas,
Adam had 'em.
(don’t know who wrote it)
It’s either Annabell Lee by Poe or the invocation to Paradise Lost, whichever is longer. I’ve heard other people do Annabelle Lee and manage to miss the fact that the narrator is clearly mad, which is an important fact about the piece. But I’ve got rising madness down pat, for whatever that’s worth.
I used to be able to do Thomas the Rhymer from memory, but that’s gotten dicey.
If we are doing shortest, I know one slightly longer, which is a clerihew:
*Sir Christopher Wren
said, “I’m going to dine with some men.
If anyone calls,
Say I’m designing St. Pauls”
For me, 'twould be Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall,” though it’s not nearly as long as some of the aforementioned poems.
I’ve always wanted to memorize “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” and after reading it outloud to my Hungarian girlfriend last night who’d never heard it, I realized just how much of a task that would be.
Also on my to-memorize list would be Wordsworth’s poem popularly known as “Tintern Abbey.”
[QUOTE]
**Originally posted by Eutychus55 **
This thread of yours, with all propriety
Is better served in Cafe Society.
Although this thread is full of whimsey
It seems to me more M P SIMSey.
OK, you win. I do so 'ates
To see this thread in Great Debates.