General Chat

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I was talking to a friend about a poem I learnt and had to recite when I was at school. She looked at me with a totally blank expression!! Does anyone else remember learning The Wraggle Taggle Gypsy? Or did you learn something more exciting? Do children still learn poetry at school? Dee x

I expect they still learn poetry at school as the object is memory training as well as culture. I recall the title. len

Hi Len I can still quote bits of it, strange that it has stayed in my mind so long. Do you remember any of the poems you learnt as a child? Dee x

there's only one poem I remeber learning at school, no doubt you'll recognise it... I wandered lonely as a cloud, thats floats on high o'er vale and hill, when all at once I saw a crowd, a host of golden daffodils Can't remember the rest (and have probably got that bit wrong too - well it was over 20 years ago lol)

Hi Vonny Hadn't realised it was also a song The first verse, as I remember it Three gypsies stood at the Castle gate They sang so high, they sang so low The lady sate in her chamber late Her heart it melted away as snow Dee ;-)

Paul I learnt that one at junior school, in the 1950's Dee ;-))

The longest ever woolly scarf was worn by geraldine giraffe around her neck the scar she wound but still it trailed upon the ground. I tought my two this and they still recite it from time to time. xxhugxx

Dare one ask how old you are?

I am 54, but only for another month Dee ;-))

Dee Only the one about 3 old ladies locked in a lavatory. Had to learn longer narrative poems (as well as shorter ones)including the Eve of St Agnes. I got into great trouble over that for paraphrasing it into a bawdier version. I never did like poetry much, no doubt as a result of it being force-fed. I learned chunks of several Shakespear plays and the complete Merchant of Venice (Wednesday last, you spat upon my beard, you void your rheum upon my .....) in readiness for English Lit. A levels.I don't like Shakespeare either. len

The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold And the sheen from their swords were like stars upon the sea When the blue waves rolled nightly on bold Gallilee.... has stuck in my head for about 50 years! I have even put a tune to it! lol BC XX

In Juniors I learnt 'on the ning nang nong, where the cows go bong....' and 'Jelly on the plate, Jelly on the plate, wibble wobble wibble wobble, Jelly on the plate,' In secondary we learnt 'the owl and the pussy cat' and something about a Jack dorw steeling something from a cannon (or similar) and ending up cursed - can't remember the words. In college we studied poetry but didn't learn it. Learning a poem by rote is not done these day - worst luck. I remember this though:- 'I wonder lonley as a cloud that floats on high ov'r hills and vale when all at once I saw a crowd, a host of golden daffodils'

Len I know that one as well I did Merchant of Venice for O level, I cannot remember it now, but I can remember the ones I learnt at junior school, weird that BC Just give me some time to put some earplugs in before you start singing it!!!!! lol :-)))

lol Dee, what a shame you are not on SKYPE....I could sing down the wires to you! lol BC

*makes a note not to get Skype installed after all* ;-))) pmsl

Dorothy, It is W H Auden Below is a very famous poem about T.P.Os This is the Night Mail crossing the border, Bringing the cheque and the postal order, Letters for the rich, letters for the poor, The shop at the corner and the girl next door. Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb: The gradient's against her, but she's on time. Past cotton-grass and moorland boulder Shovelling white steam over her shoulder, Snorting noisily as she passes Silent miles of wind-bent grasses. I think that one is brilliant, you almost feel you are on the train Lindy - I still can't think who wrote the one about the giraffe, I feel I should know though Dee ;-)) btw - Lunar - wonder if you were at school at the same time as Paul?

Paul My Father,89 yrs and suffering with dementia in hospital,used to recite the poem 'Daffodils' by William Wordsworth to the nurses. They used to love to hear it and marvelled at how he remembered it all as his memory had all but gone. Mau x 'Daffodils' (1804) I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the Milky Way, They stretch'd in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils. By William Wordsworth (1770-1850).

Anyone know why do brown cow's give white milk when they only eat green grass i don't know you don't know don't you feel an a** Valium x

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you. If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you But make allowances for their doubting too. If you can wait and not be tired by waiting Or being lied about don't deal in lies Or being hated don't give way to hating And yet don't look too good nor talk too wise. If you can dream and not make dreams your master If you can think and not make thoughts your aim If you can meet with triumph and disaster And treat these two imposters just the same. If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken And stoop and build them up with woen out tools. If you can make a heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch and toss And lose and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the will which says to them Hold On. If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue Or walk with kings nor lose the common touch If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you If all men count with you, but none too much If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it And which is more you'll be a Man, my son. Rudyard Kipling. I used to be able to remember every verse but not any more ! I have always turned to this poem when I have faced troubles and I have always gained strength from the words. Beryl x