When I was a child (I'm 77 this August) my grandfather on the porch at night, holding his lit Quinrtessa Cigar to keep the mosquitos at bay, would recite long poems which told a story. He had memorized these poems for recitation Saturday when the buckboard and hiorse took the kids to Jonesboro (in East Tennessee; current site of 'Story Tellin' festival) I'm sure you've heard 'Little Orphan Annie came to our house to stay, to wash the cups and saucers and brush the crumbs aaway'; but have you ever heard "the Haunted Pond' or Darius Green and His Flyin' Machine?
The first poem he taught me to recite was Twenty Froggies. His working on my memory abilities is why I enjoyed Chess so much and can still memorize long strings of numbers using the four digit 'word' method.