Memorizing Literature

[sirinrob]

Totally agree BJ - I was making sure that we were thinking along the same lines and from the response seems we are:mrgreen:

[Ben Mines]

Here here BJ.

 

Pretty much anything which isn't written in the "Biff through the ball for Chip. Chip chased the ball" kind of simplicity is open to interpretation and can be subjective.

 

 

The phrase "Biff through the ball for Chip" is, in my opinion, very open to interpretation.

[BookJumper]

While brainstorming virtually with an old friend from home over the final text to include in my thesis proposal, it has emerged that Manzoni's Cinque Maggio (better known as Ei Fu, i.e. He Was, 'he' being Napoleon Bonaparte) was known by me by heart back in elementary school (ergo, 10 years old or younger) - not because we were asked to commit it to memory (far too long, at 100+ lines), but because my infantile soul yearned towards poetical metaphysics, particularly as regarded heroes and battles, and proceeded to learn it and recite it excitedly to all who would listen.

 

... my younger self staggers me.

[Vanwa]

The phrase "Biff through the ball for Chip" is, in my opinion, very open to interpretation.

 

Ok, now I have two options. I can pretend it was deliberate, which after much consideration doesn't seem possible. Or I can accept defeat on this one occasion, with much proofing of future posts. I vote for option 2, as it has some possibilities at least:

 

Awwww pants. See, and you've quoted so I can't even hide it with a little edit. "Mumble, mumble, grumble, grrr..."

 

@ BJ: Your younger self staggers me, as does your current self. Allow me to ammateurishly expand:

 

Genius -

Innate yet

Undiscovered,

Leaves one

In

Awe.

 

[BookJumper]

Awww thanking you!

 

Now, it would be a good idea to commit Il Cinque Maggio to memory again, for that would indisputably aid my translation thereof. I've got nearly a year, so it is feasible I suppose; yet the length of the poem daunts me (I know it's no Mariner, but still...).

 

I'm guessing that at ten or younger there wasn't this amount of rationalising behind any of it, I would have just read the poem over and over again I loved it so much until one fine day I discovered I didn't need to look at the page anymore to read it. What I must aim to reproduce, then, is the playful passion for the subject I had in my youth.

 

... My, do I sound world-weary. At twenty-four years of age, that must be an achievement, surely.

[Ben Mines]

Try mnemonics, BookJumper. They are incredibly powerful.