Here's a challenge for you literary types! What are the classical poems referenced in this little gem? I counted 11, plus a line from a famous Shakespeare play!

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When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.

I only got The Road to Mandalay (Kipling) and Shropshire Lad (Houseman). I think Shakespeare is the last couple lines about the hands...

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Dark have been my dreams of late.

Yes, that's correct. It's from A Midsummer Night's Dream.

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When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.

Oh yeah, and Wandered Lonely as a Cloud is Wordsworth.

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Dark have been my dreams of late.

Yup!

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When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.

Sea Fever by John Masefield
The Sky Boat Song - Sir Harold Boulton

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Right you are!

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When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.

I recognize several as having heard or read, but not enough to remember the name or author. I do recognize Skye Boat Song reference, but I didn't get the Shakespeare this time. Oddly... I have never read or seen Midsummer Night's Dream (I almost typoed that to Midsummer Knight's Dream and now I think I have a new goal in life... Midsummer Knight's Dream, 8 Crazy Knights, A Knight to Remember...)

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The dumbest thing I've ever bought
was a 2020 planner.

"Does anyone ever think about Denethor, the guy driven to madness by staying up late into the night alone in the dark staring at a flickering device he believed revealed unvarnished truth about the outside word, but which in fact showed mostly manipulated media created by a hostile power committed to portraying nothing but bad news framed in the worst possible way in order to sap hope, courage, and the will to go on? Seems like he's someone we should think about." - Dave_LF

Never heard of them. Give me Blok, Gumilev or Akhmatova any time.

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Dark have been my dreams of late.

Back when I was in grade school, we were required to memorize a certain number of lines of poetry every year, beginning in Grade 4, and finishing in Gr. 8. I think it was at least 200 lines per year - don't really recall - it was a long time ago! Might have been as many as 400!

In Gr. 9, we were required to memorize the 'quality of mercy' speech from Merchant of Venice! I think the Hamlet 'alas, poor Yorick' speech was also required memorization.

Of course, they don't do this anymore...more's the pity! :'(

"Sea Fever" was one of the poems we frequently memorized, also the poem in the initial line (Yeats).

Frelga, of course - you grew up in Russia, not a country that was a member of the British Commonwealth!

_________________
When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.

Hint: the ones I didn't recognize immediately were very quickly identified by Google. And I don't think that's cheating!

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When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.

Ooh I made it a personal goal to memorize The Raven when I was in high school. I also had to memorize 10 lines - in this case Polonius talking about the letter he found to his daughter from Hamlet - for lettering in drama, and for one of my ... I forget what it was called but it was one of those "special smart people classes" I had to memorize Hamlet's soliloquy. We didn't memorize poems as a regular, though, which seems very sad.

Let's see what I remember.

Shoot, I forget the intro. LOL but the part I remember is




Let's see... (line breaks are arbitrarily how I remember the lines)


I'm sure I've messed part of this up, and that's the end of where I remember anything
okay, here's the big one..



Yeah, I remember snippets but I am really going to have to do a refresher here.
I think my parody of this one is getting in the way in my head. LOL

Once Upon a Christmas Raven

Once upon a midnight Christmas, while I pondered, weak and listless
Over many quaint and curious packages, wrapped and tied and new;
As I pondered, nearly peaking, suddenly I heard a squeaking
As if someone stealth’ly sneaking, sneaking down my chimney flu.
‘Tis Santa Claus,’ I muttered, ‘sneaking down my chimney flu,
With packages, wrapped and tied and new.’

Ah distinctly, I recall It was winter, long past fall
And each reindeer he did call as he flew on through the night.
Eagerly I sought to see them, milk and cookies out to greet them,
Underneath my tree he’ll leave them, presents all marked just for me –
Many rare and radiant presents that are all marked just for me,
He’ll leave them underneath my tree.

And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each festive curtain
Filled me with fantastic joys that Santa Claus would soon be here.
Down into the bright room came he, with a red hat, fat and jolly,
And a little twig of holly tight tightly gripped between his… claw?
Some stupid bird with a bit of holly in between his claw?
I couldn’t believe what then I saw!

‘Twas not Santa Claus who came in, but a fat and pitch black raven!
I knew it was food he was cravin’ as he stood and stared at me.
Not a sound then did he utter, but with many feathers fluttered
Flew up to the heavenly angel perched upon the Christmas tree –
To the heav’nly angel Gabriel perched upon the Christmas tree.
Quoth the raven, ‘Feed me.’

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The dumbest thing I've ever bought
was a 2020 planner.

"Does anyone ever think about Denethor, the guy driven to madness by staying up late into the night alone in the dark staring at a flickering device he believed revealed unvarnished truth about the outside word, but which in fact showed mostly manipulated media created by a hostile power committed to portraying nothing but bad news framed in the worst possible way in order to sap hope, courage, and the will to go on? Seems like he's someone we should think about." - Dave_LF

LOL, Elengil!

Being in my senior years, I've forgotten a lot of the poetry I had to memorize. But since Robert Service wrote poems about the Canadian north, and the Yukon gold rush, his poems were frequently on the list:

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

_________________
When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.

This is the Shakespeare reference:

“Give me your hands, if we be friends, and Robin shall restore amends.

_________________
When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.

Nobody else recognises W.B. Yeats "I will arise and go to Inisfree"? Is it that uniquely Irish?

Or is it just so well known that nobody thought to comment.

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

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The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End

Time to plug the huge gaping hole in your education - the Skye Boat Song is one of Scotland's most popular songs.



I mainly know Sea Fever because it was set to music by John Ireland:

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No, Alatar, it's not. It's one of the poems I recall memorizing in school. Most of the poems in our textbooks and readers were from the U.K. - that's what happens when you belong to the Commonwealth!

Edit: just realized I mentioned Yeats above, and Sea Fever, another memory gem!

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When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.

Alatar - I recognized it, but not its source. That is, it was familiar but not 'known'.

Frelga/Jude, Skye Boat Song is also the theme tune of Outlander, which makes it much more widely known.

_________________
The dumbest thing I've ever bought
was a 2020 planner.

"Does anyone ever think about Denethor, the guy driven to madness by staying up late into the night alone in the dark staring at a flickering device he believed revealed unvarnished truth about the outside word, but which in fact showed mostly manipulated media created by a hostile power committed to portraying nothing but bad news framed in the worst possible way in order to sap hope, courage, and the will to go on? Seems like he's someone we should think about." - Dave_LF

Looked up Polonius' lines and oh lord, how did I ever forget this!?

_________________
The dumbest thing I've ever bought
was a 2020 planner.

"Does anyone ever think about Denethor, the guy driven to madness by staying up late into the night alone in the dark staring at a flickering device he believed revealed unvarnished truth about the outside word, but which in fact showed mostly manipulated media created by a hostile power committed to portraying nothing but bad news framed in the worst possible way in order to sap hope, courage, and the will to go on? Seems like he's someone we should think about." - Dave_LF