Can you recite a piece of poetry from memory? Which poem, and why have you remembered it?

Answer 1

At school we used to have to learn poems by heart almost every week and recite them in class and I remember all of these because the effort to retain them in my memory in the first place ensures that I keep them there. I was also made to learn verses from the Bible to recite in church and I learned poems and Biblical passages for Eisteddfodau. In tribute to your name, I'll cite Y Cwcw, by John Ceiriog Hughes. Please forgive any typos: my knowledge of Welsh is mainly oral.

Wrth ddychwel tuag adref
Mi glwywais gwcw lon
Oedd newydd groesi'r moroedd
I'r ynys fechan hon.

A chwcw gynta'r tymor
A ganai yn y coed
'Run fath a'r gwcw gyntaf
A ganodd gynta' 'rioed

Mi dros yn ol i chwilio
Y glascoed yn y llwyn
I edrych rhwng y brigau
Ble roedd y deryn mwyn.

Mi gerddais a dychwelais
O dan y meddau fren
Ac yno 'roedd y cwcw
Yn canu wrth fy mhen.

O diolch i ti , cwcw,
Ein bod ni yma'n cwrdd.
Mi sychais i fy llygaid
A'r cwcw aith i ffwrdd.

Answer 2

Arrow and the Song by Longfellow (of Village Blacksmith fame) cuz I had to sing it. Before that, maybe fourth grade. A little diddy about a guy named of all things Ozymandias

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed,
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

How's that for the mind of a nine year old?

Also, in college I learned a comedic poem and a serious one.

The serious one was by Wilfred Owen called, "Dulce et Decorum Est". Hard to read in this day and what's going on.

The comedic was by James Fenton called, "God, a Poem". Freaking hilarious if you ever get the chance.

Others I've read and have stuck with me

"Maybe Dats Your Pwoblem Too" by Jim Hall
"Child Beater" by Ai
"Traveling Through the Dark" by William Stafford

I could go on but I've taken up so much room already.

Answer 3

zippo the clown did this one when I was at school and they were doing an environmental show 20+ years ago

Oil is on the boil
Coal is down the hole
Gas is going past - real fast
We have got to see
what other forms of ener-gy
That there are on this world (to last)


Good ol Solomon grundy
Born on monday
Christened on tuesday
Married on wednesday
Took ill on thursday
Worse on friday
Died on Saturday
Buried on sunday
So that was the tale of solomon grundy

Nonsense ryhmes from school
Jesus Christ superstar
Went around the corner in an electric car
Did a skid
Killed a kid
(cant remember the rest)

I cant remember all of the next one either - memory failing :(

Buy a new mercedes benz
Take it out for a couple of (spins?)
Just when your (something something)
Get overtaken by an electric car

I have no idea why these have stuck in my mind!

Answer 4

Being a fan of the late Joyce Grenfell, I love reciting and singing her amusing poem, "Stately as a Galleon". I couldn't remember it all until my grandson gave me a copy of her works last Christmas. So, here goes:-

'My neighbour, Mrs Fanshaw, is portly, plump and grey,
She must be over sixty-seven, if she is a day.
You might have thought her life was dull,
It's one long whirl instead.
I asked her all about it, and this is what she said:

I've joined an Olde Thyme Dance Club, the trouble is that there
Are too many ladies over, and no gentlemen to spare.
It seems a shame, it's not the same,
But still it has to be,
Some ladies have to dance together,
And one of them is me.

Stately as a galleon, I sail across the floor,
Doing the Military Two-step, as in the days of yore.
I dance with Mrs Tiverton; she's light on her feet, in spite
Of turning the scales at fourteen stone,
And being of medium height.

So jolly the band, so giddy the sight,
Full evening dress is a must;
But the zest goes out of a beautiful waltz
When you dance it bust to bust.

So, stately as two galleons, we sail across the floor,
Doing the Valse Valeta as in the days of yore.
The gent is Mrs Tiverton, and I am her lady fair;
She bows to me ever so nicely and I curtsey to her with care.

So jolly the band, so giddy the sight;
But it's not the same in the end
For a lady is never a gentleman, though
She may be your bosom friend.

So, stately as a galleon, I sail across the floor,
Doing the dear old Lancers, as in the days of yore.
I'm led by Mrs Tiverton, she swings me round and round
And though she manoeuvres me wonderfully well,
I never get off the ground.

So jolly the band, so giddy the sight,
I try not to get depressed.
And it's done me a power of good to explode,
And get this lot off my chest!

Answer 5

Not what you might consider 'poetry' but Yes, I can! Portia's Speech from The Merchant of Venice - The Quality of Mercy.

I remembered it because I was made to learn it at the age of 9 when I was wrongly accused of talking loudly whilst waiting for a teacher to supervise lunch at school!

That was not only the day when my respect for adults was shattered, but also the day when I learnt to absolutely hate Shakespeare. That hatred never left me neither did the vision of that ***** Miss Williams, which lives with me - she was fat and had fair curly hair and piggy eyes.

I think she went down in the estimation of all the girls at my dining table, because on that occasion [unlike others] they knew I had been silent, dreaming, gazing out of the convent school dining hall window, watching people walk down *outer's Lane and the City ***** towards the river on their way to ******* Races!

So:
The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven,
Upon the place beneath.
It is twice blessed.
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
It is mightiest in the mightiest
etc etc etc

Answer 6

Haste Young Holian
God Goad my Tatium
In Whilst this Crawb
My Whither stands

While the ghosts of the Widley
Standest Thou
In Snurfargle Windgate
What Jest I naked?

Do you blee nogflagin?
All waffle thouest quintails.
If long your widdest...
Haste young Holian

And let it be?

This is a poem that I wrote when I was 15 at school. I have remembered it all my life (I'm 41 now!) It makes perfect sense to me! It would be my dream to get it published.

Answer 7

Still round the coroner there may wait
A hidden path or a secret gate
Yet oft I have passed them by
The day will come when I
Shall take the hidden paths
East of the mountains west of the sun.

From The Lord of The Rings
I liked the poem and decided to learn it as it is one the very last in the book.

Answer 8

I can still remember parts of the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, by Chaucer.

I can recite passages of it in the original Old English, which is how my high school English teacher taught it.

I usually recite it in groups just to prove that I am, in fact, the biggest nerd in the room.

Answer 9

I can do all of Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll (learned it because I wanted to), Loveliest of Trees by A.E. Housman (had to learn it in school), The Eagle by Tennyson (my students had to learn it for a while), big chunks of Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar (I'm a teacher and do these plays twice a year for the last 13 years.) Oh, and chunks of Chaucer and Malory in Old English from good old History of the Language in college.

Also short poems and stuff that I like...

One of faves is this one:

I love this little house because
It offers after dark
A pause for rest, a rest for paws,
A place to moor my bark.

It is called Ode to a Doghouse by Ogden Nash

Answer 10

Itsy bitsy spider
climbed up the birthday cake
Itsy quickly learned
he'd made a big mistake
he climbed up on a candle
before the cake was cut
then the Itsy bitsy spider--
he burned his little butt!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Because it was funny. And short. There are other, serious poems I can remember pieces of, but they're too long to remember in their entirety.