Thursday, April 22, 2010

10- Poetry in Third Grade

In third grade we memorized 100 lines of poetry per quarter. I still remember specific parts of certain poems... specific couplings of lines. One of the poems that frequently comes into my mind is a poem from Shakespeare's The Tempest titled Full Fathom Five:

Full fathom five my father lay
of his bones are coral made
those are the pearls which were his eyes
nothing of him doth fade
but doth suffer a sea-change
into something rich and strange....

That is typed just from memory so it might not be entirely accurate. Im pretty sure there are a couple of more lines at the end.... something like: sea nymphs hourly ring his knell. hark- how I hear them, ding dong bell.

The fact that I was taught the importance of poetry at such a young age has certainly shaped my life. I love poetry and can instantly recognize a bunch of famous poems upon hearing their opening lines.

1 comment:

  1. What a marvelous ability! I can appreciate the color and flavor of it, but do not seem to possess the memorization skills to enhance the opportunities to appreciate. Again, how fabulous YOU can!!!

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