Poem For Recitation - I

Thought I should share some poems that I memorized and recited as a child. It's a surprise that I still remember them after sooo many years and can recite them flawlessly. Recitation is becoming a forgotten art these days and I only wish the kid at home would realize the value of learning poems by heart and reciting them. I believe it aids and improves memory and that there is something definitely uplifting and exhilarating about the whole experience. Here is one that I learned in Grade 4:

THE DAFFODILS

by William Wordsworth

I wander'd lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the Milky Way

They stretch'd in never-ending line

Along the margin of the bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee;

A poet could not but be gay

In such a jocund company:

I gazed - and gazed - but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought.

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure sings,

And dances with the daffodils.

What a visual treat this poem offers, and what a spectacular way of describing a scene from one of the poet's frequent walks! I absolutely love it to this day, Wordsworth being one of my all-time favorites!!!