When
began to memorize the Lear limericks, there were some things that I noticed
that made it both more difficult and easier to memorize them.
The first thing that made memorizing these poems a lot more bearable was how short they were, so I didn’t feel extremely overwhelmed when I had to sit down and memorize them. Similarly, the sing-songy rhyming and melody of the poem made memorizing them a lot easier and a lot more fun. I felt like a kid trying to memorize the ABCs or other kid songs, which I remember we discussed when we learned these limericks in class. The words were also all English words, or seemed like they could be English words, which made it easier.
When I began memorizing them, I saw some kind of logic that flowed through the poems. For example, the old lady who sat on a holly made a lot of sense- she tore her dress and became upset. Some of the other poems were a little less logical but they all followed the same pattern of explaining who the person is in the first line; something happens in the second line; the third line is where some kind of reaction or response takes place, whether it be the protagonist’s reaction or others’ towards him or her; and in the final line there is a slight change in character based on what happened in the limerick.
Some aspects of memorizing the limericks were difficult, however. For example, I worked to make sure I had every single word perfect. I realized that the most common mistake I made was changing “of” to “from.” For example, instead of saying “the old man of Cromer,” I would say “from Cromer.” I started to pick up on all of that “nitty-gritty language” that gives these limericks more of an “old-fashioned” limerick feel. I started to think back to all of the kid’s songs and poems that I learned when I was younger that had that same feel such as Little Miss Muppet or Ring Around the Rosie.
Another difficult part of memorizing these limericks for me was that they didn’t connect to each other, though that’s understandable considering they were their own individual little poems. I began to think about what it would be like if they had connected and all if these characters were actually in one large family or somehow connected. I began to wonder where Lear came up with all of these extremely unique characters and whether they were all somehow based on someone or something. I remember in class we were trying to figure out if the drawings came before the words or vice versa, and after memorizing the poems I don’t think I made any headway on that answer.
Something else I began to notice as I memorized these poems was the weird sexual undertone in a lot of them. Even when I read them allowed to my friends, they would chuckle at some of the sexual references. I know that when I read them in my head the first time we learned the poems, I didn’t catch these references, or at least most of them. To be honest, I’m not sure if it’s the poems or just my friends and my own immature humor.
The first thing that made memorizing these poems a lot more bearable was how short they were, so I didn’t feel extremely overwhelmed when I had to sit down and memorize them. Similarly, the sing-songy rhyming and melody of the poem made memorizing them a lot easier and a lot more fun. I felt like a kid trying to memorize the ABCs or other kid songs, which I remember we discussed when we learned these limericks in class. The words were also all English words, or seemed like they could be English words, which made it easier.
When I began memorizing them, I saw some kind of logic that flowed through the poems. For example, the old lady who sat on a holly made a lot of sense- she tore her dress and became upset. Some of the other poems were a little less logical but they all followed the same pattern of explaining who the person is in the first line; something happens in the second line; the third line is where some kind of reaction or response takes place, whether it be the protagonist’s reaction or others’ towards him or her; and in the final line there is a slight change in character based on what happened in the limerick.
Some aspects of memorizing the limericks were difficult, however. For example, I worked to make sure I had every single word perfect. I realized that the most common mistake I made was changing “of” to “from.” For example, instead of saying “the old man of Cromer,” I would say “from Cromer.” I started to pick up on all of that “nitty-gritty language” that gives these limericks more of an “old-fashioned” limerick feel. I started to think back to all of the kid’s songs and poems that I learned when I was younger that had that same feel such as Little Miss Muppet or Ring Around the Rosie.
Another difficult part of memorizing these limericks for me was that they didn’t connect to each other, though that’s understandable considering they were their own individual little poems. I began to think about what it would be like if they had connected and all if these characters were actually in one large family or somehow connected. I began to wonder where Lear came up with all of these extremely unique characters and whether they were all somehow based on someone or something. I remember in class we were trying to figure out if the drawings came before the words or vice versa, and after memorizing the poems I don’t think I made any headway on that answer.
Something else I began to notice as I memorized these poems was the weird sexual undertone in a lot of them. Even when I read them allowed to my friends, they would chuckle at some of the sexual references. I know that when I read them in my head the first time we learned the poems, I didn’t catch these references, or at least most of them. To be honest, I’m not sure if it’s the poems or just my friends and my own immature humor.
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