Hello! I'm new here and I thought I'd introduce myself by asking you all a question. Have you ever memorized poetry? One of my teachers once told me that a professor of hers said that memorizing poems was important because if you were ever imprisoned alone all that you would have to keep yourself sane would be the poems you had memorized... OK... It was a strange idea but memorization has fascinated me ever since. So far I've only got two in my head, but I've still got a lifetime to add more...
There's a sonnet by Shakespeare that goes something like this:
Devouring time blunt thou the lion's paws
and make the earth swallow her own sweet brood
Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger's jaws
and burn the long lived phoenix, in her blood
Make glad and happy seasons as thou fleet'st
and do what ever thou wilt, swift footed time
to the wide world and all her fading sweets.
But I forbid thee one most heinous crime:
O carve not with thy hours my love's fair brow
Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen
Him in thy course untainted do allow
for beauty's pattern in succeeding me
Yet do thy worst, old time, despite thy wrong
My love shall in my verse ever live young.
Post a poem you've memorized, I'm very curious to see if anyone else does this and what poems people have got rattling around in their brains.
Also hello to everyone! I'm very excited to get started here.
If that's all I remember in prison, I'm screwed.
