Is there a literary text (poem, excerpt from a novel or play) that you know by heart?

[Julie4]

For me, it's this poem

The Sleeper in the Valley

It is a green hollow where a river sings
Madly hanging silver rags on the grasses;
Where the sun, from the proud mountain,
Shines: it is a little valley foaming with rays.

A young soldier, mouth open, head bare,
And his neck bathing in the cool blue cress,
Is sleeping; he is stretched out on the grass, under the clouds,
Pale in his green bed where the light rains down.

Feet in the gladiolus, he sleeps. Smiling as
A sick child would smile, he is taking a nap:
Nature, warm him kindly: he is cold.

The scents no longer make his nostrils quiver;
He sleeps in the sun, hand on his chest
Peacefully. He has two red holes in his right side.



By Arthur Rimbaud

[RyanEC]

The closest thing to be would be Rudyard Kipling’s IF poem.


I believe I shared it with you before.



“IF”

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run—
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

[Goahead76]

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening -Robert Frost Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though;He will not see me stopping hereTo watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queerTo stop without a farmhouse nearBetween the woods and frozen lakeThe darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shakeTo ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound's the sweepOf easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

[purplepoppy]

I know a couple from under milkwood

Johnnie Crack and Flossie Snail
Kept their baby in a milking pail
Flossie Snail and Johnnie Crack
One would pull it out and one would put it back

O it's my turn now said Flossie Snail
To take the baby from the milking pail
And it's my turn now said Johnnie Crack
To smack it on the head and put it back

Johnnie Crack and Flossie Snail
Kept their baby in a milking pail
One would put it back and one would pull it out
And all it had to drink was ale and stout
For Johnnie Crack and Flossie Snail
Always used to say that stout and ale
Was good for a baby in a milking pail.

I can sing Polly carter's song from it too.

[whereismyjohnny]

I know quite a few, but these two are my favourite.

First one is a poem by Croatian writer Antun Branko Šimić called Opomena. Here is the translation of it:

Warning

Man, be careful
not to walk small
under the stars.

May your whole body
be filled with
the dim light of the stars!

To have no regrets
when with the last glances
you part with the stars!

In your final hour
instead of dust
pass whole to the stars.

The other one is by Shakespeare from the As You Like It:

The Seven Ages of Man

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

[AI Opinion]

Wow, that’s a beautiful yet haunting poem you know by heart! For me, the excerpt that always stays with me is from Shakespeare's "Hamlet." It's the famous soliloquy, "To be, or not to be: that is the question." The rhythm and depth of the lines about life and existence mesmerize me every time I recite it. It's fascinating how literature can capture the essence of human experience so profoundly. 📚✨ Do you find that this poem evokes particular feelings or memories for you?

[RavVid]

Nothing as long as that! The ones I have, are mostly pithy and short. This one is to live by

“Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone.
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own.”

... Adam Lindsay Gordon

[DrPepper12]

I know most of Samuel Coleridge's Best works: "Kubla Khan" and "rime of the ancient Mariner". I have snippets of Blake, Byron, Wordsworth, Shakespeare, Averroes, LI Po, Dante, the Mahabharata, the Rig Vedas. Fact is I loved teaching world history. The pageant of humanity is just beautiful!!

[Mettbltt]

A difficult bow was stretched
To shoot the arrow;

Why does the poet feel sad?
To create poetry.

Sweet roses bloom
Bees to taste.

The moon rises in the night sky
To rise and fall

Man grows in the cradle
To lie in the grave.
And……………………
heroes die
To keep the country afloat...

[StudyingAuthor]

"If yes is no and once is never how many sides does a triangle have?" that line from the inheritance games has me repeating it all the time. LMAO.

[AviatorTom]

I still remember the poem I wrote in 4th grade.

A Spring bird is a lark,

It sings in the morning,

But never after dark.

[strateguy632]

yes from a film, one song very few words!
choombee choobog go! in korean and repeated.

[Ladsin2]

There’s a lot of quotes I know. Just today I was thinking about an excerpt from 1984, “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

[Goahead76]

It's such a haunting book. I was rereading it about two months ago and had a new appreciation for it.

[OddBeMe]

How I wish you were here. We’re just two lost souls living in a fishbowl. Year after year.
Would you exchange a walk on part in a war for a lead role in a cage?

[Phoenix98]

I know several of my poems that I wrote by heart.

[_Troian_]

I don't know any poems but my name is from a poet actually who lived around 12th century.

[NathanDavis]

only in songs...

[eagle1951]

hamlet

[DrPepper12]

🥰🥰🥰