The reason I still have Kubla Khan memorized is because it's perfect for timing my horse stance training. It takes me about 50 seconds to recite the poem, so I'll sink into the stance, close my eyes and recite the poem in full, then watch the timer/clock for the remainder. In subjective time it takes half as long as watching the clock for a whole minute.
I do think that melodic poems like The Raven or Kubla Khan are easier to remember. I've read T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland a half-dozen times now, and certain lines have burned themselves into memory, particularly these:
There is shadow under this red rock (Come in under the shadow of this red rock), And I will show you something different from either Your shadow at morning striding behind you Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
But the majority of the poem I can't recall at all, even in generalities, despite the repetition.
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chiming
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Date: 2021-04-23 01:09 pm (UTC)From:I do think that melodic poems like The Raven or Kubla Khan are easier to remember. I've read T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland a half-dozen times now, and certain lines have burned themselves into memory, particularly these:
There is shadow under this red rock
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
But the majority of the poem I can't recall at all, even in generalities, despite the repetition.