Did you ever read or see the Dorothy Sayers story, “Have His Carcase”?
Harriet Vane and Peter Wimsey fling poetry at each other. They don’t just throw the quotes; they recognize, finish and top them.
The first time I read it, I found this behaviour unbelievable to the point of absurdity. Obviously there must have been people who memorized some works of Donne, Tennyson, et al., but not to this extreme. Then I read further among the writings of that era, not just the mysteries, and this happened all the time--- in books.
Pish tosh. Bullshit. However you want to phrase it, it’s ridiculous to think people could do that in real life.
At about the same time, I knew all the lyrics to all the music I liked. Not just the hits, also the rest of the albums and any differences between the live and the studio versions. Hell, I had inadvertently memorized songs I hated, just from exposure. Nor did I feel intellectually smug for doing so, because everyone did. Not so different from flinging poetry, when you think about it. (Young people, you should wiki “records”)
So when I marvel at how different the modern world is, with all our speed and immediacy, maybe it’s not as strange as I thought. Maybe I’m just not caught up yet. Maybe I should start reading John Donne. Or maybe I’m just lucky if I can recognize new works by bands I like. “Go Away White” comes to mind, but never mind.
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