Blog Question #2, Second Half

The poem I chose to recite was by A.E.Housman, "When I Was One-and-Twenty," published in 1896.

I chose a poem with rhythm and rhyme, almost an adult nursery song because my memory isn't as good as it once was.  No, that's an excuse.  My memory is selective and works best when not under pressure to perform.  I've always had trouble reciting something from memory when it was in front of an audience (past the age of 12).  When asked my name for my voting card, I went blank.  So I knew I'd have to choose a poem that had repetition and traditional rhythm/rhyme.  To memorize it, I used a student's book for help.  It said to learn it two lines then repeat them and add two more lines, then repeat those four lines, etc, until the whole poem was done.  I wish life were that easy.  I repeated the lines faithfully, but I still didn't have the poem imprinted.  Finally, I made sure I could "see" the poem in my mind (the way I spell) so I could "read" it.  Thank you for letting me start again when I first tried reciting it.  I went totally blank.  The second time, I looked toward the floor and "read" it.

I find the poem's message quite clear.  Your heart is worth more than money and jewels so don't give it away.  Better to be a pauper in wealth than a pauper in love.  Don't love.  The online sites agreed that this poem's message is right out there in the open and not hidden in veils.  Don't give your heart away.  Period. The young man didn't listen to the wise man and had learned the lesson when he was a year older.

I enjoyed the discussion about the poem in class more than I enjoyed reading and analyzing the poem.  To me, the "wise man" is a "fool" but perhaps he's a fool in the medieval sense and not in the modern one.  Is the poet serious about his theme?  One site said that because of the singsong style, Housman wanted the poems in the book, Shropshire Lad to be like young lads' diaries.  How serious are young lads?

I'm sorry I didn't choose "The Emperor of Ice-Cream" because I've been enjoying delving online and with my own mind tearing apart the images.  For instance, now I know why "The Emperor" struck me.  It brought up Hamlet's words about emperors and worms and eating.