# Which poem should I memorize? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 5, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899 "2009-01-05T02:58:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899/41 "2009-01-05T18:22:30Z")
How about [“The Ballad of East and West”](http://www.geocities.com/athens/aegean/1457/poem3.htm)? I was once challenged by a high school English teacher to memorize this (I was a hair’s-breadth away from an A instead of an A-minus for the class. She told me if I could memorize this poem, she’d give me the A. I got my A. 🙂 I still, more than twenty years later, remember parts of this poem.) ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899/42 "2009-01-05T18:34:47Z")
I think I missed the edit window, but here are some more: [This one is from “Willy Wonka and Great Glass Elevator,” and I always found it amusing.](http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/61661-Roald-Dahl--Goldie-Pinklesweet----) This one is by Alan Moore, and I love it. [The Children’s Hour](http://groups.msn.com/anideafromtheedge/suggestionbox.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=10718&LastModified=4675546131089919776) (it’s in Message 5 on the page–works best if you recite it in a proper British accent 🙂 ) This one is a downer, but I love it too. [110 Stories](http://nielsenhayden.com/110.html) by John M. Ford ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899/43 "2009-01-05T19:12:15Z")
> [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](#): > > **Barn Owl** : Was this the poem featured in the cave scene of Dead Poet’s Society? (I don’t think I could perform that around here. It would come off as racist, I think.) I think you’re referring to **The Congo**. In our 10th grade English class, the teacher asked us to pick a poem (any poem, whether in the text or not,I believe) to read aloud to the class. The Congo was in our English textbook. And that was my immediate choice. Ialso thought I’d ask the one black kid in the class to split the reading with me. But before doing anything, I asked the teacher if The Congo would be ok. She was horrified, and maybe justifiably so. This was in the late 40’s, and maybe black kids might still find reason to resent the poem. So I think even now, when we’re less antsy about addressing stuff like the poem evokes, you’re probably better off staying away from it. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899/44 "2009-01-05T19:23:45Z")
How about this bit from [Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonneut.](http://www.amazon.com/Slaughterhouse-Five-Kurt-Vonnegut/dp/product-description/0385333846) My name is Yon Yonson, I work in Wisconsin, I work in a lumbermill there. The people I meet when I walk down the street, They say, “What’s your name?” And I say, My name is Yon Yonson, I work in Wisconsin…" And so on to infinity. Ok maybe it isnt the greatest poem (or even a poem). ---
**Author:** ![sweeteviljesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899/45 "2009-01-05T20:12:56Z")
“There was a young lady named Alice…” Sorry, someone had to 🙂 Rob ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899/46 "2009-01-05T20:23:08Z")
> [@winterhawk11](#): > > I think I missed the edit window, but here are some more: > > [This one is from “Willy Wonka and Great Glass Elevator,” and I always found it amusing.](http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/61661-Roald-Dahl--Goldie-Pinklesweet----) How odd, that’s the first poem that popped in my mind. I memorized it at about age 12 or so, not intentionally but just by endlessly rereading it. Always good for a laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899/47 "2009-01-05T20:28:57Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > Whatever for though, when there are so many other things you could be using your memory for? Useful things, for instance. Like poems. 😕 I do it because I enjoy it, and because, in my opinion, it’s the supreme challenge. No phrases, no sentences, no narrative, not even any words. Just random numbers. The only patterns there are the ones you make yourself, which is one of the only approaches, in my opinion, that actually works long-term. I submit that mathematical poetry is no less useful than any other sort. > [@ivan astikov](#): > > p.s. It’s not even a feat that an audience can appreciate. How many are going to know if you were wrong? People often ask me for the sheet, and besides, what do I care if they appreciate it? I’m not doing it for them. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899/48 "2009-01-05T20:53:47Z")
If you’re gonna recite it out loud, I love **The Congo** and also Poe’s **The Bells** One of my favorites is [Renascence](http://www.bartleby.com/131/1.html) by Edna St. Vincent Millay ALL I could see from where I stood Was three long mountains and a wood; I turned and looked the other way, And saw three islands in a bay. So with my eyes I traced the line 5 Of the horizon, thin and fine, Straight around till I was come Back to where I’d started from; And all I saw from where I stood Was three long mountains and a wood. 10 Over these things I could not see: These were the things that bounded me; And I could touch them with my hand, Almost, I thought, from where I stand. And all at once things seemed so small 15 My breath came short, and scarce at all (and on and on…very catchy rhythm) ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899/49 "2009-01-05T21:08:22Z")
If you haven’t already done any of these more popular verses: Casey at the Bat (Look up Martin Gardner’s “The Annotated CATB” for the various versions and parodies) A Visit from St. Nicholas (ditto Martin Gardner) Edward Lear, “The Owl and the Pussycat”, “How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear” ---
**Author:** ![ShakWave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f9b8f/32.png) [@ShakWave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShakWave)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899/50 "2009-01-06T00:50:03Z")
How about ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Tennyson or ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tofu\_Kitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e7dd6/32.png) [@The\_Tofu\_Kitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tofu_Kitty)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899/51 "2009-01-06T01:06:37Z")
I would say “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold. Or, if you’re feeling like branching out from poetry, you could try the last paragraph of _The Waves_ by Virginia Woolf ("…Against you I will fling myself, unvanquished and unyielding, O Death!" etc.) Pretty sweet imo, and it lends itself to recitation. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899/52 "2009-01-06T01:16:57Z")
If you like a poem with a narritive, you might like the poem **I** memorized ten years ago for a poetry class: “Mid-term Break” by Seamus Heaney. I still remember a lot of it. Here’s a [link](http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/mid-term-break/). ---
**Author:** ![vintageloveletter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@vintageloveletter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vintageloveletter)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899/53 "2009-01-06T04:53:34Z")
The only poem I ever memorized was Poe’s “A Dream Within A Dream”. I also love Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899/54 "2009-01-06T06:00:56Z")
I’m amazed more E. A. Poe hasn’t come up here. _The Raven_ is wonderful around Halloween, and I’ve always loved _Annabelle Lee_. Great rhythm and meter, and that makes them easier to memorize. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 is a famous one, and one that I pull out occasionally. The first 14 lines of text between Romeo and Juliet (from their first meeting to their first kiss) are a complete sonnet, and I’ve inadvertently memorized that one through stage managing the show. 'Course, to perform that one, you really need help. Biblically, Chapter 13 of Paul’s first Letter to the Corinthians is a classic. The first chapter of Genesis is likewise quite pretty. There’s also the Song of Solomon, which might prove popular in smaller, more intimate audiences. Rudyard Kipling is a wonderful choice. _If_ or _The Power of the Dog_ might be good choices. Lord Byron is a good choice too. _She Walks in Beauty_ is a nice one, if overdone, and I know just one stanza from _Stanzas Composed on the Road Between Florence and Pisa_, but it’s among my favorite in poetry. _The Destruction of Sennacherib_ is a fun one; if Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter is a heartbeat, Byron’s _Sennacherib_ recalls hoofbeats (soft-soft-HARD soft-soft-HARD) and comes across well in performance. And last, here’s one that has gone over well for me, especially as I am the one-and-twenty of the poem. [http://www3.amherst.edu/~rjyanco94/literature/alfrededwardhousman/poems/ashropshirelad/wheniwasoneandtwenty.html](http://www3.amherst.edu/~rjyanco94/literature/alfrededwardhousman/poems/ashropshirelad/wheniwasoneandtwenty.html) ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899/55 "2009-01-06T06:30:41Z")
I see you like the more positive of A. E. Housman’s works. 😉 I’m far more partial to _[Is my team ploughing](http://www3.amherst.edu/~rjyanco94/literature/alfrededwardhousman/poems/ashropshirelad/ismyteamploughing.html)_. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899/56 "2009-01-06T06:47:51Z")
My late wife was a devotee of crossword puzzles (as am I), so a few years ago for her birthday I wrote her a poem called “Ode to an Etui”, an etui being a needle case and a very common word usage in crossword puzzles. Going through her effects I found she had saved it, and I will send it to you for your use. It can be recited in about 90 seconds and has the advantage of never having been seen by anyone else, so no one listening to it can tell if you are reciting it correctly or skipping whole chunks of it, or making part of it up as you go along. You can even attribute it to Ogden Nash, or yourself, if you like. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899/57 "2009-01-06T09:01:50Z")
I hope that you will try Yeats! These three are short, but show different moods: [Easter, 1916](http://classweb.gmu.edu/rnanian/Yeats-Easter1916.html) [When You Are Old](http://www.bartleby.com/101/863.html) [The Lake Isle of Innisfree](http://www.bartleby.com/103/44.html) The last one is so peaceful that sometimes I recite it the way that other might say _Hail Marys_. But there’s longing and truthfulness too. The second one – _When You Are Old_ – is one of the most loving poems. The first poem is an important poem. Maybe his best. **Fenris** , if you would like to see what Millay could see when she was inspired to write that poem, it’s all still there. She grew up in Camden, Maine. Behind the village is Mt. Battie. It’s about 1,000 feet to the top. You can drive up or walk up as she often did. It’s one of my favorite spots in the world. There is also an inn in the town at the foot of Mt. Battie – White Hall Inn. They have parts of the rough draft of the poem framed around parts of the lobby (different rooms downstairs). It was at this inn that Millay recited her poem one night and a wealthy woman from New York overheard her, recognized her potential and agreed to become her sponsor. ---
**Author:** ![longPath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@longPath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/longPath)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899/58 "2009-01-06T11:52:03Z")
Great fun to recite at family dinners… By Heinrich Hoffman Augustus was a chubby lad; Fat, ruddy cheeks Augustus had; And everybody saw with joy The plump and hearty, healthy boy. He ate and drank as he was told, And never let his soup get cold. [and so on…](http://www.soupsong.com/iaugustu.html) ---
**Author:** ![parthenokinesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/cc9497/32.png) [@parthenokinesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parthenokinesis)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899/59 "2009-01-06T12:18:48Z")
Lots of “children’s” lit being suggested, strong meter structure with iambic flow intended to be read aloud to an audience, so might i suggest some of the best of Seuss? “The Cat in the Hat” qualifies as narrative poetry in any sense of the term and is arguably one of the most important literary works of the 20th century. I’m also quite fond of “And to Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street” ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899/60 "2009-01-06T13:22:38Z")
Here’s another one my Junior High English teacher read to us: **Mia Carlotta** > **[Mia Carlotta - Collection at Bartleby.com](https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/modern-american-poetry/mia-carlotta/)** > > Mia Carlotta GIUSEPPE, da barber, ees greata for “mash,”He gotta da bigga, da blacka mustache,Good clo’es an’ good styla an’ playnta good And can anyone dig up the poem about the dog who wins every peeing contest he gets into because he has diabetes? It’s an lol-er. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-poem-should-i-memorize/479899.md?page=4)