Poetry highlight: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I just wanted to take a moment to share some "mom schooling".  I decided to take on the challenge of memorizing a poem, Snowflakes by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It is part of a high school literature course that one kid was working through last year, but I decided I should try it myself. It is suggested to spend time memorizing for 15 minutes each over 3 sessions. My sessions including rewriting the poem several times because repetition is the best for me. Also, I don't memorize very well anymore. Needless to say, I do not have this poem memorized, but I do have a better understanding of each line and the poem as a whole, and I would definitely recognize it if I heard it out of the blue somewhere. 

I wrote it on the white board that is displayed in our living room, where I can see it and often read it while I am doing my yoga. Sometimes lines pop out at me and I ponder them more. Now it's time to start erasing words each day.

My very first rewrite was just on a piece of paper (yes, don't mind the white scribbles on the bottom right, I was just practicing some snowflakes for the next project).

My 3rd writing was in a book where I keep special projects and drawings. I watercolored the page with some winter colors and snowflakes (that ran because I used the wrong paint pens), then I wrote it out in my best cursive. Writing in cursive isn't easy, but sometimes I like to practice it.

I got to thinking about his other poems and works and remembered that he also wrote one of my favorite Christmas carols, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. The story behind this song is both heartbreaking and uplifting. I did a little searching to see if there are any books about it and found a few things. First thing I found was his story retold at a Tabernacle Choir concert featuring Edward Hermann (an actor from one of my favorite shows--Gilmore Girls). 

There are of course many versions of the song/poem sung by many other people too. It's a very pretty song. I also found some books that I would love to read. I will share those after I have found and read them. It's kinda fun getting sucked into a rabbit hole of learning for myself once in a while. Also, poetry is something I'm starting to love more lately. I don't know if it's age and wisdom, or just taking the time to really understand it better, but I am enjoying it a lot these days.