[driftless2]

Yeah, I remember having to try and memorize the darn thing. Never got past three stanzas. (Although I still remember the first one after fifty some years.)

Only one girl in a class of sixty kids memorized the whole thing. For her reward, she had to go from classroom to classroom reciting the poem.

[left that other site]

We also had to memorize “Sea Fever” by John Maysfield.

Kid after kid went up to the front of the class and recited it. Everybody was so bored and tired that when i went up to recite it, I said “Sea Fever, by Jayne Mansfield”, and nobody batted an eye!