General Chat

Mau I found it amazing what my Dad could remember from the past when he had dementia. He didn’t remember poetry but all the old songs Valium That’s an amusing little ditty, one of those that stick in your mind and can always be counted on to make the children realise that adults have a sense of humour Mandy I can vaguely remember There’s a one eyed yellow idol to the north of Khatmandu, is that the one you are thinking of, or is it another one? I keep thinking it might be Kipling, but am probably wrong Beryl I love that poem, and have had it on the wall when I worked in a playgroup. Keith Well done with plagiarism, I must see if I can come up with something to outdo you ;-)) CB We were at school at the same time then. I think I would rather have read less fiction as well, although some of it does give a taste of the period it was written in We learnt another poem about gypsies, it was My mother said, I never should, play with the gypsies in the wood Wonder why the fascination with gypsies in those days Helen Not sure I could have remembered any Latin poetry. My OH and my son both did Latin, but it was something I have always steered clear of. Mind you I find I can often work out what a foreign word means simply because it came from Latin origins Sue That’s another very evocative poem isn’t it? Cargoes QUINQUIREME of Nineveh from distant Ophir, Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine, With a cargo of ivory, And apes and peacocks, Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine. Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus, Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores, With a cargo of diamonds, Emeralds, amythysts, Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores. Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack, Butting through the Channel in the mad March days, With a cargo of Tyne coal, Road-rails, pig-lead, Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays. John Masefield Vonny Is that one Robert Louis Stevenson? I really should be getting ready for college so will look it up later June I know just how you feel, there was always that niggling doubt that you would make a fool of yourself. Dave Thanks for adding that. It's amazing, isn't it, what we remember. Wish we could remember all those bits of inforamtion we were told about our familes as easily Dee xx

I remember a lot of those poems Dee but what I remember more about school is having to sing this nearly everyday lol! Davex THE BRITISH GRENADIERS Some talk of Alexander And some of Hercules Of Hector and Lysander And such great names as these. But of all the world's brave heroes There's none that can compare With a tow row row, row row row row For the British Grenadiers. Whene'er we are commanded To storm the pallisades Our leaders march with fuses And we with hand grenades. We throw them from the glacis About the enemy's ears Sing tow row row, row row row row For the British Grenadiers. Then let us fill a bumper And drink a health to those Who carry caps and pouches And wear the louped clothes. May they and their commanders Live happily all their years With a tow row row, row row row row For the British Grenadiers.

LOL Helen! All I can remember of quotes from my Latin 'O' Level was from Julius Caesar's 'Conquest of Gaul'. I think it was the very first line, which began - Prima luce, .... and that's about it! Very useful subject for deciphering English spelling, inscriptions and medical and legal terms. CB >|<

The only one I can remember is 'the Daffodil' one. I loved ppetry, but didn't enjoy it at school because I was terrified that I wouldn't remember it, word perfect and I was also embarrassed at standing up in front of the class and reciting it.. Its a shame really that 'the punishment' spoilt the enjoyment. June xx

Dirty British coaster with a salt caked smoke stack Chugging down the channel on mad March days With a cargo of.................? And cheap tin trays. That's all I can remember. We learnt that at Junior School in the 1950s. Is it by John Masefield? It's so strange how some things are so embedded in your memory, but others (probably more important) are completely forgotten! LOL Sue xx

I had to do Latin O level and as I had no hope of translating anything in the exam I learned 450 lines of Virgils 'The Aenead' in Latin and in English and just scraped through. It began 'Conticuere omnes, intentique ora tenebant Inde toro pater Aeneas sic altus ad alto Infandum regina iubes renovare dolorum....' or something like that and that's all I remember now.

I remember being forced to learn that poem, Dee, at school in the 1950s. I left school in 1967 and, like Len, I never enjoyed poetry or Shakespeare, which is probably why I don't remember much of it. I did like Chaucer, Thomas Hardy and D H Lawrence, but I found Jane Austen irritating. When I was younger, I couldn't see the relevance of most of those books to my own life or how memorising chunks of them would be of use to me later. I'd have been far happier reading factual texts to help me learn about other subjects in depth and reading less fiction. CB >|<

As a one off.......... I once plaguerised a great man's work and related it to that which so many of us are so familiar with. Perhaps, with Dee's permission, I might air it again....... If you can keep your head while some about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on those new If you can trust yourself when records doubt you But make allowance for their doubting too If you can wait on others and not be tired by waiting Or, being lied to, don't deal with lies Or on being baited, don't be deterred by baiting And yet don't sound too smug nor talk too wise If you can dream a lineage back to Adam, and not make dreams your Master If you can think all through, but not make thoughts your aim If you can sit fruitlessly for days with 1837 and Ancestry And treat those two supporters with more of the same If you can bear to search on behalf of ungrateful beseechers And receive no credit from such fools Or watch the things you gave your time for vanish But carry on, and help others with the same and trusty tools If you can make one heap of all your searchings And risk it all on a certificate of £7 cost And lose, and start again at your beginnings And complain to none about your loss f you can share your tree with those unknown And their reply is to thumb their nose But not be deterred by the manners they have shown And when asked again by others, say ' sure, here goes ' If you can languish in ROs and keep your virtue Or dream of finding Kings, but remain proud of your common touch If neither blind alleys or brick walls can hurt you If you respect all leads........but none too much If you can fill each unforgiving minute With every scrap of knowledge to achieve your end Then yours will be contentment, and all that there goes with it And, which is more....................you'll be admired my friend K ( with some help from RK )

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

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

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).

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?

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

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

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 :-)))

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'

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

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

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

Dare one ask how old you are?