What is the first poem you remember memorizing as a child?

Beyond nursery rhymes, I think it would be Mending Wall by Robert Frost. Third Grade.
I still remember most of it

Aside from nursery rhymes, it was “Bear In There” by Shel Silverstein:

There’s a Polar Bear
In our Frigidaire—
He likes it ‘cause it’s cold in there.
With his seat in the meat
And his face in the fish
And his big hairy paws
In the buttery dish,
He’s nibbling the noodles,
He’s munching the rice,
He’s slurping the soda,
He’s licking the ice.
And he lets out a roar
If you open the door.
And it gives me a scare
To know he’s in there—
That Polary Bear
In our Fridgitydaire.

Paul Revere’s Ride by Longfellow. still remember the first stanza

I’ve never seen a purple cow,
I never hope to see one,
But I can tell you anyhow,
I’d rather see than be one.

I still remember it ;0)

It was written by Gelett Burgess in 1895.

That I didn’t remember, so I looked it up :0P

I am sure this isn’t what you had in mind, but we were naughty kids:

Milk, Milk
Lemonade
Around the corner
Fudge is Made

It still cracks me up. I am such a child.

A Shel Silverstein poem about a kid peeing on a plant….

besides Nursery Rhime it would be Libby Lilly something I wrote my self so please dont mind it
“Libby LIlly”

Libby Lilly
is so silly
she puts her blankie
on her head
and says Lookie
Mommy
Im silly.

Beans, beans, they’re good for your heart.
The more you eat, the more you fart.

JellyFish Stew… it was in the Where the Sidewalk Ends book. :)

mo memorized the dictionary
but he can’t find a job
or anyone who wants to marry
someone who memorized the dictionary.

shel silverstein as well (he’s popular)

Whenever you see a hearse go by,
That’s a sign you’re gonna die.
They wrap you in a bloody sheet
And throw you in six feet deep.
The worms crawl in.
The worms crawl out.
Into your stomach and out of your mouth.

oy..

After a burp-
Excuse me please, I wasn’t rude
it wasn’t me, it was my food.
It got so lonely down below
it just came up to say hello.

“Yesterday upon the stair
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
How I wish he’d go away”.

@ marina – good gosh!? Im old and that will give me nightmares tonight. hehe.

mic-
see you real soon

key
y? because we like you

mouse

micky mouse, micky mouse, forever let us hold our banners high,

hey there high there ho there Your as welcome as can be

Mic Key Mouse.

The first one I remember making an effort to memorize was Poe’s The Raven, which I’ve known by heart since I was seven or eight years old. But there were definitely others that I knew before that. Like the one Marina posted, which I knew in a slightly different form. I was a really morbid little kid… Not much has changed in that respect.

Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour
Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halve cours yronne
And smale fowles maken melodye
That slepen al the nyght with open ye
(So priketh hem nature in hir corages)
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
– Geoffrey Chaucer

(And yes, I still have it memorized and can pronounce every word of Old English correctly.)

@Bri_L Sorry, didn’t mean to induce fear. I thought all kids said some version of that. It was rendered with as much childish ghoulish relish as possible.

Actually, my first was one my mother used to recite to us when we were in bed and she was tucking us in.

Little fly on the wall
Ain’t you got no clothes a’tall?
Ain’t you got no shimmy shirt?
Ain’t you got not pettiskirt?
L’il fly, ain’t you cold?

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

@ marina I like that one it is very cute

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear.
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair.
Fuzzy Wuzzn’t wasn’t fuzzy.
Was he?

Excellent Question btw.

@ ideabrian – Excellent! I forgot about that one!

Well, I’m a little older than many of you, but this is one of the first poems I remember memorizing:

Little Boy Blue, by Eugene Field

THE little toy dog is covered with dust,
But sturdy and staunch he stands;
The little toy soldier is red with rust,
And his musket moulds in his hands.
Time was when the little toy dog was new, 5
And the soldier was passing fair;
And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue
Kissed them and put them there.

“Now don’t you go till I come,” he said,
“And don’t you make any noise!”
So, toddling off to his trundle bed,
He dreamt of the pretty toys;
And, as he was dreaming, an angel song
Awakened our Little Boy Blue—
Oh! the years are many, the years are long,
But the little toy friends are true!

Ay, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand,
Each in the same old place,
Awaiting the touch of a little hand,
The smile of a little face;
And they wonder, as waiting the long years through
In the dust of that little chair,
What has become of our Little Boy Blue,
Since he kissed them and put them there.

Wow. I don’t remember memorizing any poetry before grade six. In Flanders Fields. It’s so solemn in comparison to some of the ones listed above.

Little Orphan’ Annie. I memorized it for halloween in Grade school. By James Whitcomb Riley
Little Orphant Annie’s come to our house to stay,
An’ wash the cups an’ saucers up, an’ brush the crumbs away,
An’ shoo the chickens off the porch, an’ dust the hearth, an’ sweep,
An’ make the fire, an’ bake the bread, an’ earn her board-an’-keep;
An’ all us other childern, when the supper things is done,
We set around the kitchen fire an’ has the mostest fun
A-list’nin’ to the witch-tales ‘at Annie tells about,
An’ the Gobble-uns ‘at gits you
Ef you
Don’t
Watch
Out!

Onc’t they was a little boy wouldn’t say his prayers,—
So when he went to bed at night, away up stairs,
His Mammy heerd him holler, an’ his Daddy heerd him bawl,
An’ when they turn’t the kivvers down, he wasn’t there at all!
An’ they seeked him in the rafter-room, an’ cubby-hole, an’ press,
An’ seeked him up the chimbly-flue, an’ ever’wheres, I guess;
But all they ever found was thist his pants an’ roundabout—
An’ the Gobble-uns’ll git you
Ef you
Don’t
Watch
Out!

An’ one time a little girl ‘ud allus laugh an’ grin,
An’ make fun of ever’one, an’ all her blood an’ kin;
An’ onc’t, when they was “company,” an’ ole folks was there,
She mocked ‘em an’ shocked ‘em, an’ said she didn’t care!
An’ thist as she kicked her heels, an’ turn’t to run an’ hide,
They was two great big Black Things a-standin’ by her side,
An’ they snatched her through the ceilin’ ‘fore she knowed what she’s about!
An’ the Gobble-uns’ll git you
Ef you
Don’t
Watch
Out!

An’ little Orphant Annie says when the blaze is blue,
An’ the lamp-wick sputters, an’ the wind goes woo-oo!
An’ you hear the crickets quit, an’ the moon is gray,
An’ the lightnin’-bugs in dew is all squenched away,—
You better mind yer parents, an’ yer teachers fond an’ dear,
An’ churish them ‘at loves you, an’ dry the orphant’s tear,
An’ he’p the pore an’ needy ones ‘at clusters all about,
Er the Gobble-uns’ll git you
Ef you
Don’t
Watch
Out!

The Raven, when I was six.
And, Ickle me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too by Shel Silverstein
&
The Unicorn.
I still don’t care that people think Poe is childish. I love his work.

Robert Frost’s ‘Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening’

And miles to go before I sleep…

Window Dogs
Little paws against the glass
Wimpering at kids that pass
Living in a window pane
Never kissed by sun or rain
If fortune ever fills my cup
I’ll buy up every window pup
And give them out instead of toys
To lonesome little boys and girls.

@poem- Adorable!

Is it bad that when I heard the line “living in a windowpane”, I thought of a puppy living a horrible two-dimensional life squished into the middle of a pane of glass?

@Hobbes: You and me both, man.

Fuzzy Wuzzy wuz my first memorized poem, too. When I was a teen, it was “There was a young man from Nantucket…” It has only gone down hill from there. :-)

Fuzzy Wuzzy Was A Bear
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair.
If Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair,
He wasn’t fuzzy was he?
Was he bare?

That’s how I learned it as a kid, the internet is telling me different things though. :’(

I learned it as

“Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair
So Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t all that fuzzy
Was he?”

Both are fine by me! :)

Other than the basic nursery rhymes the first one I actually put an effort into memorizing was Shel Silverstein’s The Unicorn

A long time ago, when the earth was green
and there was more kinds of animals than you’ve ever seen,
and they run around free while the world was bein’ born,
and the loveliest of all was the Unicorn.

There was green alligators and long-neck geese.
There was humpy bumpy camels and chimpanzees.
There was catsandratsandelephants, but sure as you’re born
the loveliest of all was the Unicorn.

But the Lord seen some sinnin’, and it caused him pain.
He says, “Stand back, I’m gonna make it rain.”
He says, “Hey Brother Noah, I’ll tell ya whatcha do.
Go and build me a floatin’ zoo.

And you take two alligators and a couple of geese,
two humpy bumpy camels and two chimpanzees.
Take two catsandratsandelephants, but sure as you’re born,
Noah, don’t you forget my Unicorn.”

Now Noah was there, he answered the callin’
and he finished up the ark just as the rain was fallin’.
He marched in the animals two by two,
and he called out as they went through,

“Hey Lord, I got your two alligators and your couple of geese,
your humpy bumpy camels and your chimpanzees.
Got your catsandratsandelephants – but Lord, I’m so forlorn
‘cause I just don’t see no Unicorn.”

Ol’ Noah looked out through the drivin’ rain
but the Unicorns were hidin’, playin’ silly games.
They were kickin’ and splashin’ in the misty morn,
oh them silly Unicorn.

The the goat started goatin’, and the snake started snakin’,
the elephant started elephantin’, and the boat started shaking’.
The mouse started squeakin’, and the lion started roarin’,
and everyone’s aboard but the Unicorn.

I mean the green alligators and the long-neck geese,
the humpy bumpy camels and the chimpanzees.
Noah cried, “Close the door ‘cause the rain is pourin’ -
and we just can’t wait for them Unicorn.”

Then the ark started movin’, and it drifted with the tide,
and the Unicorns looked up from the rock and cried.
And the water come up and sort of floated them away -
that’s why you’ve never seen a Unicorn to this day.

You’ll see a lot of alligators and a whole mess of geese.
You’ll see humpy bumpy camels and lots of chimpanzees.
You’ll see catsandratsandelephants, but sure as you’re born
you’re never gonna see no Unicorn.

This is also a song done by the Irish Rovers, but I learned the poem before I heard the song.

Oh, that made my insides happy, hitomi. :)

@asmonet Glad I could be of service….it is one of my favorite poems even though it’s silly and kinda sad…and I LOVE the song…it just makes me smile (despite the sad).

If simple nursery rhymes count, then “Mary Had a Little Lamb” or possibly “Fuzzy Wuzzy” would be the earliest.

Later, when I was about 10, I learned this little gem out of a joke book:

If chlorophyll cures every ill,
Then it is my expectation,
That it would pay,
To run someday,
A chlorophylling station.

The first serious poetry I made an effort to memorize would have been either John Masefield’s “A Ballad of John Silver”, or Phyllis McGinley’s “The Conquerors”. I still love them both—I have “the Conquerors” posted on the wall at work. Here it is:

It seems vainglorious and proud
Of Atom-man to boast aloud
His prowess homicidal
When one remembers how for years,
With their rude stones and humble spears,
Our sires, at wiping out their peers,
Were almost never idle.
Despite his under-fissioned art
The Hittite made a splendid start
Toward smiting lesser nations;
While Tamerlane, it’s widely known,
Without a bomb to call his own
Destroyed whole populations.
Nor did the ancient Persian need
Uranium to kill his Mede,
The Viking earl, his foeman.
The Greeks got excellent results
With swords and engined catapults.
A chariot served the Roman.
Mere cannon garnered quite a yield
On Waterloo’s tempestuous field.
At Hastings and at Flodden
Stout countrymen, with just a bow
And arrow, laid their thousands low.
And Gettysburg was sodden.
Though doubtless now our shrewd machines
Can blow the world to smithereens
More tidily and so on,
Let’s give our ancestors their due.
Their ways were coarse, their weapons few.
But ah! how wondrously they slew
With what they had to go on.

Outwitted by Edwin Markham
He drew a circle that shut me out —
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in!

my Grandfather introduced me to it and it has remained with me as my favorite poem

My own. It was published in the local paper when I was in first grade.

I am a flower, a sunflower,
the sun shines on me,
the rain falls on me,
and makes me grow.

The jumblies in second grade

—When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three
I was hardly me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five, I was just alive.
But now I am Six, I’m as clever as clever,
So I think I’ll be six now for ever and ever.
The End

I found a little beetle, so that beetle was his name,
And I called him Alexander and he answered just the same.
I put him in a matchbox, and I kept him all the day…
And Nanny let my beetle out
Yes, Nanny let my beetle out
She went and let my beetle out-
And beetle ran away.

She said she didn’t mean it, and I never said she did,
She said she wanted matches, and she just took off the lid
She said that she was sorry, but it’s difficult to catch
An excited sort of beetle you’ve mistaken for a match.

She said that she was sorry, and I really mustn’t mind
As there’s lots and lots of beetles which she’s certain we could find
If we looked about the garden for the holes where beetles hid-
And we’d get another matchbox, and write BEETLE on the lid.

We went to all the places which a beetle might be near,
And we made the sort of noises which a beetle likes to hear,
And I saw a kind of something, and I gave a sort of shout:
“A beetle-house and Alexander Beetle coming out!”

It was Alexander Beetle I’m as certain as can be
And he had a sort of look as if he thought it might be ME,
And he had a kind of look as if he thought he ought to say:
“I’m very, very sorry that I tried to run away.”

And Nanny’s very sorry too, for you know what she did,
And she’s writing ALEXANDER very blackly on the lid,
So Nan and me are friends, because it’s difficult to catch
An excited Alexander you’ve mistaken for a match.—