Water Water everywhere, and all the boards did shrink.....

@Modestah (11179)
United States
April 14, 2008 7:42am CST
Water Water everywhere, nor any drop to drink. When you were in school was there a poem that you were required to commit a stanza from to memory? Do you still recall that stanza or part of it? For me it was the above from "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. I was in 7th grade. (29 years ago) For those unfamiliar, the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner was an entire story done in prose... these were the two stanzas I chose from the piece, to memorize... I chose them because they were already familiar to me as my father also memorized them as a student and would occasionally quote the second half. Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean. Water, water, everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink. When I was in 3rd or 4th grade we had to memorize the lovely poem by Joyce Kilmer called Trees. He is my absolute favorite poet.
1 person likes this
5 responses
@Arkadus (895)
• Canada
15 Apr 08
Nope, that's apparently something they stopped making you do in more recent years. They still made us read some poetry but not memorize it. Which is probably a good thing because most (not all though) poetry isn't of a variety I'd find interesting, and some people may know that remembering something you care absolutely nothing about is next to impossible.
@irisheyes (4370)
• United States
14 Apr 08
Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest I am He whom thou seekest Thou drivest love from thee Who drivest Me Not sure if that "drivest" is the correct word but the lines are from Francis Thompson's HOUND OF HEAVEN. It starts out: I fled Him down the nights and down the days I fled Him down the arches of the years I can still remember chunks but I can't still recite the entire poem ANYMORE. I loved it and I knew the whole thing when I was around twelve. It's very alliterative and sounds wonderful recited.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
14 Apr 08
I am pretty sure we went over it in class, but the only line that stuck with me is the "Water Water everywhere, nor any drop to drink"
@KarenO52 (2950)
• United States
14 Apr 08
There was a poem called the Skater of Ghost Lake by William Rose Benet that I remember a part of, it goes: Ghost Lake's a dark lake, a deep lake and cold: Ice black as ebony, frostily scrolled; Far in its shadows a faint sound whirrs; Steep stand the sentineled deep, dark firs. The poem goes on to tell the story of a character, Jeremy Randall who goes out to meet his sweetheart for a late night skate on Ghost Lake. Of all the poems I was forced to read in school, this one stuck with me because of the imagery. It reminds me of the lake I used to skate on with my older brothers when I was very young.
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
14 Apr 08
Dang.....I was hoping I was your favorite poet! LOL