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Committed to Memory
Committed to Memory: 100 Best Poems to Memorize | Eavan Boland, John Hollander
16 posts | 3 read | 4 to read
A collection of English and American poems for memorization includes the works of Emily Dickinson, William Wordsworth, Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, Matthew Arnold, and Walt Whitman
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Skygoddess1
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1. Pretty much anything chocolate, it especially M&Ms
2. Any candy with peanut butter
3. Going to Hawaii and taking part in Halloween there, it‘s like their Marie Gras. Started doing it with my parents 11 years ago, great memories
4. When I was little a Dalmatian, the warmest costume I ever had, didn‘t have to wear a coat over it (CO weather), adult Kitana from Mortal Kombat. #TeamStoker #Scarathlon

BeansPage 🧟‍♀️ 4y
5 likes1 comment
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Bradleygirl
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This is from yesterday but I love this anthology already! I remember this one from school. This sonnet was written about (and is somewhere inscribed near) the statue of liberty. #Poemsbeforephones #poetry
@monalyisha @cocomass @Redwritinghood @DivineDiana

DivineDiana Yes! I love this collection of classic poems! ❤️ 5y
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review
DivineDiana
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Pickpick

I enjoyed this collection of poems, considered to be the world‘s best loved. Poems were chosen to memorize and share with family and friends. It was surprising that many contained lines which were familiar to me, and I never realized their source. They were organized in five sections: Sonnets, Songs, Counsels, Tales and Meditations. I will definitely keep this in my collection!
Photo: students reading poetry to the wall. 🙂

Tanisha_A I like the idea of reading poetry to a wall. Or it could be any object. Think I'll try it! 5y
Cathythoughts Great picture ! I love this image ♥️ 5y
DivineDiana @Tanisha_A Maybe I will too! 😉 5y
DivineDiana @Cathythoughts Must be a fun class! 5y
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DivineDiana
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Mending Wall
By Robert Frost
“He only says,”Good fences make good neighbors.”
Spring is the mischief in me,and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
“Why do they make good neighbors?Isn‘t it
Where there are cows?But there are no cows
Before I built a wall I‘d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom was I like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn‘t love a wall.”
#poemsbeforephones Photo: Berlin Wall

monalyisha Upsettingly enough, this is timely. 5y
DivineDiana @monalyisha That‘s what I thought. ☹️ 5y
Redwritinghood Still relevant today, sadly. 5y
DivineDiana @Redwritinghood Unfortunately. 5y
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DivineDiana
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To a Waterfowl
By William Cullen Bryant

“He who, from zone to zone,
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone,
Will lead my steps aright.”

I did not expect to do a #poemsbeforephones post today, but this one I wanted to share.

Lcsmcat Lovely! 5y
55 likes1 comment
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DivineDiana
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The Owl and the Pussy-cat
By Edward Lear

“The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey,and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
“O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!”

#poemsbeforephones

Redwritinghood I always felt this one could be sung. I wonder if that was ever the case. 5y
JeanAudrey I had to learn this poem in 4th grade it's a great poem thanks for bringing back memories 5y
DivineDiana @Redwritinghood Don‘t know, but I agree! 😀 5y
DivineDiana @JeanAudrey Can you still recite it? 5y
monalyisha I‘ve always liked this one! There are some great illustrated editions of it, too. 🦉😻 (edited) 5y
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DivineDiana
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Jabberwocky
By Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”

#poemsbeforephones

The nonsense language reminds me of Dr. Seuss, but darker.

Soubhiville I love the painting! And of course the poem! 5y
DivineDiana @Soubhiville The illustrator is Anne Bachelier, and it is available as a poster from Book of Wonders. http://booksofwonder.com/jabberwocky.aspx 5y
Eggs Beautiful wondrous image !! 5y
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Redwritinghood That‘s a fun one and great illustration to go with it! 5y
DivineDiana @Eggs @Redwritinghood I love the illustration so much that I just might need the poster! 💗 5y
Bradleygirl Oh, Carroll! Those poems imprinted on me early and hard 😜🤪 5y
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DivineDiana
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From the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Translated from the Persian
By Edward Fitzgerald

“A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread-and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness-
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!”

Illustration- Edmund Dulac
#poemsbeforephones

batsy Lovely! 5y
Cathythoughts I love this ♥️ 5y
Graywacke Beautiful 5y
See All 11 Comments
Suet624 💕💕💕 5y
Tanisha_A 💕 Shaandar! (That's glorious in Hindi) 5y
monalyisha Nature, wine, bread, & romance? PERFECTION. 5y
DivineDiana @Tanisha_A Thank you for teaching me! 💗 5y
RohitSawant Love Edmund Dulac! 5y
DivineDiana @rohit-sawant As do I! ❤️ 5y
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DivineDiana
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The Cat and the Moon
By William Butler Yeats

“The cat went here and there
And the moon spun round like a top,
And the nearest kin of the moon,
The creeping cat, looked up.
Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,
For, wander and wail as he would,
The pure cold light in the sky
Troubled his animal blood.
Minnaloushe runs in the grass
Lifting his delicate feet.
Do you dance,Minnaloushe, do you dance?”

#poemsbeforephone


monalyisha I looked up Minnaloushe to see if the name was a reference to something. Here‘s the closest explanation I found!: “In German, "minna" means protective, and loushe is pretty close to the sound of the word for "light" in latin (lux, lucis). So I think that Minnaloushe may mean "protective light”... which certainly goes with the moon image & the idea of Minnaloushe as a familiar.” 5y
monalyisha (Minnaloushe was the name of Maud Gonne‘s cat.) 5y
DivineDiana @monalyisha Thank you for adding so much to my enjoyment of this poem! ❤️ 5y
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DivineDiana @monalyisha And while Googling Maud Gonne, I discovered that she, indeed, was Yeats muse! 😲 5y
monalyisha @DivineDiana No prob! I was just curious. If I weren‘t allergic to cats, I‘d totally catalog that name for future use. 😺 5y
Bradleygirl Aw great one, I read it this month too! Cats are delightful poetry subjects 5y
DivineDiana @Bradleygirl Agree! 😻 5y
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DivineDiana
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Blow,blow thou winter wind
By William Shakespeare

“Blow,blow thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man‘s ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen,
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude,
Heigh-ho! heigh-ho unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning,most loving mere folly:
Then,heigh-ho the holly!
This life is most jolly.”

#poemsbeforephones

monalyisha 🥶 5y
51 likes1 comment
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DivineDiana
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To Celia
By Ben Johnson

“Drinke to me, only, with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss but in the cup,
And Ile not look for wine.”

Written in 1616 and later set to music in 1790.However, it is believed that this poem was paraphrased from one written by Philostratus, a Greek in his own language.

Art: George W. Joy

#poemsbeforephones

Bradleygirl Le classic 5y
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DivineDiana
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Those Winter Sundays
By Robert Hayden

Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.
....

Speaking indifferently to him,
Who had driven out the cold
And polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know,what did I know
Of love‘s austere and lonely offices?”

#poemsbeforephones

Tanisha_A 💔 5y
monalyisha This one is great. Not heartening, by any means. 😅 But great. 5y
Redwritinghood That‘s lovely. 5y
See All 7 Comments
batsy Beautiful and poignant... 5y
BarbaraBB Great painting. 5y
Suet624 💕💕💕 5y
58 likes7 comments
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DivineDiana
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A Red, Red Rose
Robert Burns

“O my luve‘s like a red, red rose,
That‘s newly sprung in June;
O my luve‘s like the melodie
That‘s sweetly played in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a‘ the seas gang dry.”

#poemsbeforephones

monalyisha I love that people once often committed poems to memory. ❤️ 5y
DivineDiana @monalyisha Let‘s bring it back! 😀 5y
63 likes2 comments
blurb
DivineDiana
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Composed upon Westminster Bridge
September 3, 1802
William Wordsworth

“Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships,towers,domes,theatres,and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.”
#poemsbeforephones

readordierachel Gorgeous photo 😍 5y
monalyisha Classic. 💕 5y
73 likes2 comments
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DivineDiana
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Needed a new book for the #poemsbeforephones challenge and found this on my shelves. So happy to start one from the very extensive #MtTBR !

IamIamIam I feel like I've either had this and given it away or I've taken it out of the library... lol #dejabooks 5y
DivineDiana @IamIamIam Now, I just need to memorize a poem! 😂 5y
59 likes2 comments
blurb
DivineDiana
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An excerpt from the sonnet, The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus:

“...Give me your tired,your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless,tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp behind the golden door.”

#poemsbeforephones

Crazeedi We used to sing this, beautiful 5y
DivineDiana @Crazeedi I would love to hear this sung! 5y
Bradleygirl I remember this from elementary school!! Legendary 5y
Redwritinghood 💕💕 5y
Crazeedi @DivineDiana it's an old time song, we had a song book from the Fred Waring Singers with various tunes, we were a singing family , and we knew every song in the book. You might find it on you tube or google it. 5y
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