Just when I needed it’s help, I pulled a Jabberwocky from my back pocket last night.
Of course, one doesn’t yank a monster out of your pocket or purse on a whim. This particular Jabberwocky is a good friend. In high school, we were given the assignment to read the Lewis Carroll poem in speech class, and from the first stanza, I’ve loved the Jabberwocky.
So I memorized it — a natural response when you fall in love with a poem, don’t you think?
Back to last night: at my first Chinese New Year’s party with a room full of half strangers and a requirement to perform. Our hostess had us playing a game in which you had to sing, dance, tell a joke, anything, in front of the group. When my turn came for the spotlight, my Jabberwocky and I were ready.
And I must say, I think it went very well. I felt like Anne Shirley reciting “The Lady of Shalott” by Tennyson.
I encourage you to memorize a poem. It doesn’t have to be lengthy, but a selection with a bit of drama helps when you are reciting in front of a group, and most of all, make it a poem you are passionate about. Don’t have a poem in mind? I’ve a Jabberwocky you can borrow.
Update: Poets perform on HBO. I had no idea. HT: Litkicks
My brother memorized it in high school, and because I wanted to do everything my brother did and had no confidence to make my own decisions, I started to memorize it myself…’Twas brillig and the slithy toves…right? Well, I didn’t follow through memorizing the rest because he accused me of copying, which is exactly what I was doing. So I picked another: “I never saw a purple cow/I never hope to see one/but I can tell you anyhow/I’d rather see than be one.”
People marvel at my literary genius.
My parents can rattle off long poems, “The Charge of the Light Brigade” and dozens of others. They went to school in the ’40s.
People don’t memorize much anymore, do they?
No, they do not, it’s such a pity really. And there is so much poetry worthy of the effort.
Amen to that.
Have you seen the Poem a Day or Good Poems books?
I love those types of collections because they are the right length for me. I’m the sort of person who used to buy poetry books by one author after I fell in love with one poem, then I learned that they wrote very. long. pieces, which didn’t feed my poetry hunger.
{shrug}
I enjoy the density of language in a good poem, and maybe that’s why I appreciate so much the (relatively) shorter ones.
(Hi. Found you surfing the Writer…Interrupted webring. )
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