Classic poetry/readings to memorize as companion to TOG Y1 (Ancients)

[bookfiend]

I like to have the boys memorize a few big pieces to anchor their history every year.  I am the least familiar with classical literature and am looking for pieces that are either from the timeframe or reference the Ancients. 

 

My possible list includes:

 

Ode on a Grecian Urn

On a Replica of the Parthenon

Exodus 20: 1-17

Invocation to Light by Milton

Ozymandias by Shelly

Excerpt from Julius Caesar by Shakespeare

 

thanks for your ideas!

 

 

[Pamela in VA]

We will be doing TOG Y1 also. The first stanza of The Aeneid is pretty good. Had to learn it in Latin and English in college.

 

Looking forward to other ideas.

Pamela F.

[Candid]

Tapestry actually includes recitation pieces throughout the year so you might want to save Keats and Shelley, et all to their appropriate years. 

 

Try this:

 

 

 

Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures, for so were the counsels of Jove fulfilled from the day on which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles, first fell out with one another.

 

or this

 

Arms, and the man I sing, who, forc'd by fate, 

And haughty Juno's unrelenting hate, 

Expell'd and exil'd, left the Trojan shore. 

Long labors, both by sea and land, he bore, 

And in the doubtful war, before he won 

The Latian realm, and built the destin'd town; 

His banish'd gods restor'd to rites divine, 

And settled sure succession in his line, 

From whence the race of Alban fathers come, 

And the long glories of majestic Rome. 

 

 

 

instead of works from other time periods

[bookfiend]

This is our first year in Rhetoric; the recitation piece is new to me and I am curious to see how it plays out in our week.  My impression was that it is meant to faciltate their public speaking skills more than highlight memory work.  All of the literature is so rich and weighty.  I'm just looking for those nuggets that you want to keep in your heart and mind for a lifetime as a result of memorization.  

[Candid]

This is our first year in Rhetoric; the recitation piece is new to me and I am curious to see how it plays out in our week.  My impression was that it is meant to faciltate their public speaking skills more than highlight memory work.  All of the literature is so rich and weighty.  I'm just looking for those nuggets that you want to keep in your heart and mind for a lifetime as a result of memorization.  

 

On content, you'll have to decide what it is you are looking for. Probably doing each recitation piece weekly would be too much on the memory work, but they should all be good pieces to memorize, 

[Foucachon]

Love the idea of memorizing the first lines of the Iliad! I had to learn the first lines of The Aeneid in college, and that was a lot of fun too.

 

Here's a fun reading of the first lines of the Iliad in both English (Lattimore) AND in Greek! As well as a short discussion of the poetry. Thought you all might enjoy it, and maybe use it if you decide to memorize those lines: