things I think about at 5 am

more about Bob.. He graduated from high school in 1948 from a small country school in Brighton, Tn. The subjects offered at that time were Algebra, History, English, Home Ec, Chemistry and Agriculture. Some of his children and grand children have enjoyed listening to him recite portions of the poetry he had to memorize back then.
ie;
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"Tis some visitor," I muttered. "tapping at my chamber door-
Only this, and nothing more."

Annabel Lee by Edgar Allen Poe:
"It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me."

Thanatopsis by William Cullan Bryant:
"So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan, which moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams"

and this one he probably was not taught by his teacher:
"Twas in a cabaret they met
Romeo and Juliet
He had no cash to pay their debt
So Romeo owed what Julie et." :)

I wonder if children in high school are still required to memorize poetry..and if so, whose?