Memorization Thread

The Eagle by Tennyson
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Frost
Love and a Question by Frost
Shall I compare thee to a midsummer's day

>>9629513
Can't Buy a Thrill, The Royal Scam, Aja, and Gaucho were all better albums.

>>9629513
i can remember a lot of the spike milligan poems i read when i was a kid
also quite a lot of edward lear and edward gorey limericks

My love
is a fever,
longing still for
that
which
longer nurseth the disease
Tell me more!
You'll have to call again.
In faith
I do not love thee, with mine eyes
They in thee
a thousand ERRORS see but 'tis my
heart
that loves
what they despise
who in despite of view
are pleased to dote
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Tell me more!
You'll have to call again.
Darmok and Jalad, at Tanagra.
Darmok
Engage!
and Jalad
at
Tanagra.
Darmok and Jalad
at Tanagra
Darmok and Jalad
at Tanagra
I am Locutus of Borg
You will respond to my questions
I am Locutus of Borg
You are borg.
I am Locutus of Borg
You will respond to my questions.
I am Locutus of Borg
You are Borg.
I am Locutus of Borg
Lock phasers on that vessel.
I am Locutus of Borg
There are FOUR LIGHTS!

Only the last stanza of Stark Major by Crane, and some lines here and there of Yeats.
I was just thinking i should start memorizing poems, good thread.

None, besides my unfinished sonnet. Fuck free verse.

Two shorter poems, three opening quatrains of an epic and the first scene of Macbeth.
Do you think it's meaningful to memorize free verse?

>>9629758
Sonnets are fun to write, but free verse is where the music is.

>>9629701
Honestly only Aja is better than Pretzel Logic. After a few listens, Monkey in Your Soul is a god-tier closer. Night By Night, Barrytown, Any Major Dude, and Pretzel Logic are all really good as well.

>>9629807
I agree about Monkey in Your Soul and Night by Night but nearly everything else on the album is fairly underwhelming.

>>9629701
I will have to disagree with you there, bud. Maybe Can't Buy a Thrill. But really it's folly to compare their work pre-the Royal Scam with the rest.

>>9629820
Not the guy you were talking to but I think Pretzel Logic is a first-class example of an album whose total effect is more than the composite of their songs. It all blends together beautifully. Also,
>overlooking "Parker's Band"
Regarding Aja, I tend to agree with Christgau that it's too slick in places, too much of a product. However it does have some of the Dan's strongest individual tracks, which maybe you prefer.

>>9629796
It's more difficult but good free verse is just as rhythmic as poetry in more traditional forms. I don't think I properly absorbed Whitman at all until I memorized 50 lines of Song of Myself

>>9629701
Gaucho is weak as fuck, probably their worst album

>>9629701
>>9629807
>>9629891
I only have listened to Aja and The Nightfly. Also, why are there so many poetry fags into Steely Dan?

And if anyone's an English major memorization is a major boon and used to be common if not compulsory. I used to struggle with analyzing poems (mostly because I was never taught how to break things down into smaller elements: meter, syntax, etc.) but after I committed to memorizing the poems that I wrote about the work really improved, to the point that I no longer felt that I was grasping but really understood the poem

>>9629921
Steely Dan's lyrics are excellent. Really I prefer their approach to someone like Dylan's (although there are similarities).

>>9629920
It comes together more on repeat listens.

>>9629946
What do you think is the difference?

>>9629953
I mean I agree, but I still think it's their worst record (although I haven't heard Everything Must Go)

>>9629920
Oh, wait 10 yrs. It's their best (then it's on to Nightfly).

>>9629967
You really think Countdown to Ecstasy and Katy Lied are better?

>>9629964
In approach? Steely Dan typically use personae, generally some kind of archetypal "gentleman loser" or criminal who either wallows in pathos or regards things ironically/cynically. Additionally, they're often deliberately oblique and allusive (referring to literature, geography, jazz) in a way that makes the songs initially difficult to penetrate. So they work as kinds of puzzles which demand close attention and repeated listening. I guess like Dylan they've got a fondness for wordplay, slang, etc., but where Dylan oscillates between absurdity and veiled confession, Steely Dan prefers detached narrative. It's funny but I have to agree with Christgau that, even though the Grateful Dead are in many ways SD's temperamental/thematic/musical foils, they have a similar kind of lyrical style. I'll link the article:
https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/rock/steely-75.php

>>9629513
When man determined to
destroy himself he took
the was of shall and
finding only why
smashed it into because

>>9629980
>>9629992
Yes, and I've given them all dozens of listens probably. Both Gaucho and Aja are a little too insular and frictionless for my taste. I realize that for many people they typify Steely Dan's aesthetic (and they're good albums) but I really think they peaked creatively before the Royal Scam. I will say that Two Against Nature was an amazing comeback record

How do I get into Steely Dan? Any chart?

>>9630047
Chronological order basically works. You don't necessarily have to listen to things like Alive in America or Fagen and Becker's solo albums.

>>9630047
Have you heard any Dan tracks?

>>9629513
Don't really have a technique.

I can rattle off "The Emperor of Ice-Cream" by Wallace Stevens and "Drinking in the Daytime" by Frederick Seidel.

Steely Dan's stereo-demonstration-rock reeks of organic sprout farts and is about as next level as Pong.

>memorizing word by word

>>9630226
this might impress someone on /mu/ but it doesn't even make sense as vague criticism

I'm a mason and have almost all of our ritual memorized. I can't go into too much detail as you can imagine, but my advice is to break it into chunks and do a little more every day. Also, read it out loud.

>>9630226
had to check if this was a christgau review (it's not)

>>9630300
give him some credit, chum

>>9629513
What is the point in memorizing poems?

>>9630325
-deeper understanding and appreciation
-solace in difficult moments
-impress qts

>>9630264
I actually have the majority of their albums hard filed in a crate designated for "Steely Dan & Bands That Sound Like Steely Dan". They're just amusing to poke fun at.

>>9630381
>organic sprout farts
explain this

I am memorizing the Qur'an
It's not going well

>>9630590
in arabic? that's kid's stuff