Memorizing Poetry

The Times has an article about the hobby of memorizing poetry that reverberates with some self-satisfaction and some pain for me, recalling that I had once taken up the practice, but have let it slip from me long ago. I identify well with this:

A few years ago, I started learning poetry by heart on a daily basis. I’ve now memorized about a hundred poems, some of them quite long — more than 2,000 lines in all, not including limericks and Bob Dylan lyrics. I recite them to myself while jogging along the Hudson River, quite loudly if no other joggers are within earshot. I do the same, but more quietly, while walking around Manhattan on errands — just another guy on an invisible cellphone.

It was just too much high-maintenance for me to keep the poems in my memory, and the most beautiful of verse can become tiring after a thousand repetitions. But I do miss not having my old repertoire on tap, and I'm not entirely untempted to try to get it back.

Memorizing Poetry

The Times has an article about the hobby of memorizing poetry that reverberates with some self-satisfaction and some pain for me, recalling that I had once taken up the practice, but have let it slip from me long ago. I identify well with this:

A few years ago, I started learning poetry by heart on a daily basis. I’ve now memorized about a hundred poems, some of them quite long — more than 2,000 lines in all, not including limericks and Bob Dylan lyrics. I recite them to myself while jogging along the Hudson River, quite loudly if no other joggers are within earshot. I do the same, but more quietly, while walking around Manhattan on errands — just another guy on an invisible cellphone.

It was just too much high-maintenance for me to keep the poems in my memory, and the most beautiful of verse can become tiring after a thousand repetitions. But I do miss not having my old repertoire on tap, and I'm not entirely untempted to try to get it back.

The Old Evolution Debate

Maybe evolutionists and creationists can't find common ground because they really aren't even having the same argument. Scientists are fighting to preserve their ability to answer how unimpeded by why. Creationists are fighting to have answers to why, unthreatened by answers to how.

-- Juli Berwald

And I thought it was because evolutionists believe that creationists are ignorant buffoons, and creationists believe evolutionists are going to Hell.

The Old Evolution Debate

Maybe evolutionists and creationists can't find common ground because they really aren't even having the same argument. Scientists are fighting to preserve their ability to answer how unimpeded by why. Creationists are fighting to have answers to why, unthreatened by answers to how.

-- Juli Berwald

And I thought it was because evolutionists believe that creationists are ignorant buffoons, and creationists believe evolutionists are going to Hell.