Had to write this for school

[Cam L]

So this year my English class is focused around British literature, and we recently read parts of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (mainly just the prologue). For those of you unfamiliar with it, Chaucer essentially introduces a bunch of characters that are going on a pilgrimage and makes satirical judgements about each of them. Our writing assignment for this unit was to go to a public place and make observations about people there, then write a prologue in which we introduce a setting and make judgements about 3 "characters" in about 40 lines, written in the form of a couplet poem as Chaucer's work is. I went to the DMV, and this is what I wrote:

*My syllables/line is off by a bit every now and then, and I change verb tenses about 3/4 of the way through, but whatever.

Spoiler

On a January afternoon,

Several hours before the moon

Pokes out into the Chaska sky

Men and women seem to fly

To and from the DMV.

Teenagers with their parents' keys,

Grumpy workers sit at desks,

While people wait to take their tests.

People on phones sit and wait,

Bored, tired, and irate.

The grumpy woman at the desk

Thinks of her job, how she detests

All of the forms and paperwork

That come with being a desk clerk.

All of the questions she gets asked

Are returned with a stare that is masked

By fatigue, boredom, and distress;

Does her job offer any happiness?

Peering out from behind her glasses

As the line moves as slow as molasses,

The brain beneath that graying hair

Thinks "I'd rather be anywhere but here."

In the back corner there sits a teenager,

A girl whose expression could not be graver.

She turns to her mother, and hopefully cries,

"I won't run that stop sign this time, I'll try!"

But the girl behind that happy smile

Could barely drive a car for half of a mile.

Energetic as she was, she had several flaws,

For she could not remember half of the laws.

She was a bad driver, I know this first hand,

For on my way home I was behind her van.

To the right of the girl sat a man,

A man who looked to have great plans

For later in life, as he wore a black suit,

And carried a briefcase with him to boot.

He was a tall man, looking calm and collected

In his thoughts as he sat and neglected

The annoying whispers of those that sat waiting

While in his mind secretly debating

Where he should go to pick up some lunch;

Far from this place, I have a hunch.

Just something I thought someone might find interesting

[India777]

i read that before!

[Joshjrn]

I had to memorize the first 20 lines of that shit, in Middle English, in high school

Edited January 17, 2012 by Joshjrn

[Houston Coog]

Nice lol

[Veggie]

I had to memorize the first 20 lines of that shit, in Middle English, in high school

I had to do that this year, except I only memorized about the first 6 lines and read the rest off the paper

Silly thing to be graded on. Critical thinking and analysis of Middle English literature is one thing - but having to memorize something objective and unrelated to the actual curriculum with no practical uses is just ridiculous.

[Hess]

I had to memorize the Declaration of Independence (first paragraph), and the Gettysburg Address, along with the Preamble (but everyone memorizes that)

I never had to memorize anything for Literature though.

(Actually I had to memorize Oh Captain my Captain, but that was for history as well)