‘let the more loving one be me’
“Are you casting a spell?” Loui asked from the kitchen.
I had been sitting on the couch, muttering to myself. “No,” I said. “I’m memorizing a poem.”
This week I was delighted by a series published by The New York Times, called The Poetry Challenge. The challenge was to memorize “The More Loving One” by W.H. Auden, with a new essay published each day to analyze and contextualize the poem.
I was fully charmed by this; I even shared the first day’s essay and memorization game with my students in class. I want to share gift links for the five essays with you and encourage you to read the pieces and memorize the poem. I’m almost there, although I keep messing up a few words in line 5: “How should we like it were stars to burn.”
Here are the essays:
Happy poetry! Happy memorizing!