Was Poetry part of your English classes at school? Which did you learn by heart? Which did you appreciate?
Which can you still recite????
We read a lot of poetry in school. At that time it was called Language Arts, if I remember correctly. Basically English classes.
I still remember Invictus. "Out of the night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul."
I recall many excerpts from lots of poems but I don't remember many completely anymore.
Poetry was part of what was called English Literature — English Language ie. grammar was a separate subject. The only poem I can remember us studying was The Rhyme of the The Ancient Mariner by Coleridge, but we did study several of Shakespeare’s plays including Julius Caesar and Macbeth, and Macbeth’s soliloquy “Is this a dagger that I see before me” has always stuck in my mind, partly because of its total nihilism. When I was in my final year before going to university I organised a poetry reading competition for the whole school and I chose to read Tears by Alfred Lord Tennyson, another boy read The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock which was my introduction to T S Elliott.
I learned far more poetry at home because my mother started reading the poetry she enjoyed to me when I was little more than two years old. My favourite which I asked for time and time again was The Fairies by William Allingham and I can recite a few verses by heart. Thanks to my mother I developed both an extensive vocabulary and an abiding and deep love of poetry but I didn’t start writing poems until I was well into my fifties. My personal collection of poetry books runs to many volumes ranging from Shakespeare and the metaphysical poets to Ted Hughes and Dylan Thomas.
For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Hebrews 4:12
We did units on poetry in English class over the years. Couldn't cite the years and poems or anything, but definitely did study poetry. Didn't have to learn much by heart in my day (1980s in Ontario, Canada), though. My Grade 12 English teacher (who, oddly, was German and also taught the school's German course) did make us do that for a speech of our choice from MacBeth (I chose the dagger speech).
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