[Wondergirl]

If all of this is normal, all the other girls would have to nearly fail English too. I am the only one who nearly failed English. Although I am not the only one who disagrees with the English teacher about analyzing poetry.

Oh, no. There is every variation under the sun. That's your particular schtick, crying and nearly failing English. Other girls dye their hair with Jello or get their nose pierced or search the house for adoption papers.

Yeah, analyzing poetry is hard work. I didn't like to do it either and searched for excuses not to. I was a Lit major in college and explicated more poetry and wrote more term papers about the meaning of poems than you could shake a stick at.

[Athos]

Deconstructing a poem is an exercise in futility. To begin with, a poem is "holistic" (if that's the right word) and breaking it down for "analysis" destroys the essence of the thing. I had the same problem in school as the poster - re poetry, not the crying.

To do this with a piece of fine art is even worse. Don't tell me about brush strokes and the many shades of color. Just let me look at it, and allow it to enter into my interior world.

Taking things apart is for engineers, not for the appreciation of beauty.

[Wondergirl]

Taking things apart is for engineers, not for the appreciation of beauty.

Lit majors are engineers as well as appreciators of beauty.

I can appreciate "Annabel Lee" much more now that I know where Poe wrote it, who she was, and why he wrote it. I even know someone who visited the cottage he wrote it in and described that cottage to me (which, for me, adds to the meaning).

[Athos]

Lit majors are engineers as well as appreciators of beauty.

I can appreciate "Annabel Lee" much more now that I know where Poe wrote it, who she was, and why he wrote it. I even know someone who visited the cottage he wrote it in and described that cottage to me (which, for me, adds to the meaning).

Well, that's true, but not the same as breaking down the words of the poem is the historical/physical background of the poem.

Poe wrote that poem (I think) in New York City's Bronx borough.

[Wondergirl]

Well, that's true, but not the same as breaking down the words of the poem is the historical/physical background of the poem.

Poe wrote that poem (I think) in New York City's Bronx borough.

Yes, he did. Part of explication is figuring out/finding out the historical and physical background. Arguments are still being made as to who "Annabel Lee" was in Poe's life. That's also part of the explication process. Explication is much more than picking apart each line and even each word. I would get a much better understanding of Shelley's "Ozymandias" if I know who the heck he was. As I read the poem, I read about one man but the real meaning is that all leaders inevitably decline, as do the "empires" they build, however mighty those empires are in their own time.

My high school English teacher, Mr. Explication himself, laughed when we tried to explicate "Daffodils" by Wordsworth. "Just read it and enjoy it," he said. "Don't pick it apart." Poe's "Bells" is another one like that -- just read it (out loud!) and thrill to the rhythm.

[yttrium]

I've probably memorized over 250 lines of poetry, 129 of them Lewis Carroll, 25 Billy Collins, 51 Rudyard Kipling, about 50 Edgar Allan Poe, some Shel Silverstein, and Invictus. Plus the entire periodic table of the elements, which isn't a poem, but it does rhyme somewhat and I think it's poetic. In a nerdy kind of way. And I recite them when I'm crying (for whatever reason) and it actually helps because it takes my mind off whatever I was crying about, but I will start crying again if I think about that thing again so it's not permanent. It's useful in English class when I don't want people to notice that I'm crying or ask why.

I had to memorize "If you think you are beaten you are" (Walt Whitman) for my woodshop final (My first year of art was actually one semester woodshop/ one semester art). Weird, but the teacher was an english major. Needless to say I memorized it in a day so he told me to memorize Invictus too. And when I memorized that in a day he told me to go and memorize The Wasteland.

[Wondergirl]

I've probably memorized over 250 lines of poetry

I challenge you to memorize some of the Psalms (23 and 118 to start with), Ecclesiastes 3, Matthew 5:1-12 (the Beatitudes), and Luke 2 (all King James Version of the Bible).

[yttrium]

I've never actually read any part of the Bible. I don't think there's even a Bible in our house.

[Wondergirl]

I've never actually read any part of the Bible. I don't think there's even a Bible in our house.

All of those are online -- King James Version. Just Google the one you want + KJV.

[yttrium]

I looked up 23 and gave it a try but I don't think I can memorize anything if my heart's not in it. I memorized Invictus very quickly because the words meant something to me and they stuck in my head. I always remember interesting lines from books, too, if they mean something to me, like "We are a tiny race, involved in a vast pursuit, amidst the cold stars, and all bound together by reason and amity." - Dr. Trefusius, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, by M.T. Anderson. I'm reading the second volume of that now.
And I always remember bits and pieces of Bradbury and Vonnegut.

And I am currently obsessed with reading everything that China Miéville has ever written, and I'd memorize everything meaningful in all that too but I don't think I'm capable. Every single word is in the exact right place and every sentence has meaning and significance.

Oh and I almost forgot - I also have 24 lines of Emily inson, A Bird Came Down the Walk and Death is a Dialogue.

[Wondergirl]

I looked up 23 and gave it a try but I don't think I can memorize anything if my heart's not in it.

We had to memorize Bible verses and certain chapters every night as homework from 5th to 8th grade in the Lutheran school I went to (along with all sorts of famous and no-so-famous poetry). Our hearts weren't always in it, but it was terrific mental discipline.

[yttrium]

I can attain mental discipline by reciting the electron configurations of the lanthanides. Plus it will be very useful in chemistry later on.

[Wondergirl]

I can attain mental discipline by reciting the electron configurations of the lanthanides. Plus it will be very useful in chemistry later on.

After I got my two sons into school full time, I got a part-time job shelving books at my public library. While I did that, because of my affinity for numbers, I unconsciously memorized the Dewey Decimal system, which skill later came in handy when I was a cataloger for 15 years. To each his own.