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Showing posts from July, 2011

Half Arthur

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I wonder whether they still get children to memorise poems in school? I used to find this terrifying. At that age I hadn't heard of the memory techniques that make such feats easier and as such used to struggle. One of the ones I recall having the most trouble with began " I must go down to the sea again... ", but to be frank I don't think I can be blamed for this failing. Besides,  the protagonist of this verse sounds arrogant and demanding: " And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to sail her by " Oh, that's all is it? An enormous vehicle just given to you, gratis, and then you actually want a celestial body some light years distant to be simply handed to you on a plate simply because you haven't got any idea where you are going? Repetition seems to be the key to remembering something and as such the only poem I still remember is the one that was drummed into me on a daily basis for as long as I went to school. No doubt you know it too. ...