All poems are about God, love or depression.–Susan Wise Bauer

This pronouncement is another one of those statements that I’m not sure is true, but it does sound true–or at least useful for classification purposes.

Then, again, is Jabberwocky about God, love or depression? Birthday by Rossetti obviously falls into the love category. The psalms are about God, love, and depression. My favorite poem, Annabel Lee by Poe, is a love/depression poem that hints at an unjust God. But this one that I memorized in sixth grade doesn’t seem to fit any of those three categories:

THE RAGGEDY MAN by James Whitcomb Riley

O the Raggedy Man! He works fer Pa;
An’ he’s the goodest man ever you saw!
He comes to our house every day,
An’ waters the horses, an’ feeds ’em hay;
An’ he opens the shed — an’ we all ist laugh
When he drives out our little old wobble-ly calf;
An’ nen — ef our hired girl says he can —
He milks the cow fer ‘Lizabuth Ann. —
Ain’t he a’ awful good Raggedy Man?
Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!

W’y, The Raggedy Man — he’s ist so good,
He splits the kindlin’ an’ chops the wood;
An’ nen he spades in our garden, too,
An’ does most things ‘at boys can’t do. —
He clumbed clean up in our big tree
An’ shooked a’ apple down fer me —
An’ ‘nother ‘n’, too, fer ‘Lizabuth Ann —
An’ ‘nother ‘n’, too, fer The Raggedy Man. —
Ain’t he a’ awful kind Raggedy Man?
Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!

An’ The Raggedy Man, he knows most rhymes,
An’ tells ’em, ef I be good, sometimes:
Knows ’bout Giunts, an’ Griffuns, an’ Elves,
An’ the Squidgicum-Squees ‘at swallers the’rselves:
An’, wite by the pump in our pasture-lot,
He showed me the hole ‘at the Wunks is got,
‘At lives ‘way deep in the ground, an’ can
Turn into me, er ‘Lizabuth Ann!
Er Ma, er Pa, er The Raggedy Man!
Ain’t he a funny old Raggedy Man?
Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!

The Raggedy Man — one time, when he
Wuz makin’ a little bow-‘n’-orry fer me,
Says “When you’re big like your Pa is,
Air you go’ to keep a fine store like his —
An’ be a rich merchunt — an’ wear fine clothes? —
An’ nen he laughed at ‘Lizabuth Ann,
An’ I says “‘M go’ to be a Raggedy Man! —
I’m ist go’ to be a nice Raggedy Man!”
Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!

On second thought, I guess it’s about love. The version I found here of this poem has several verses that weren’t in my poetry book. Enjoy.
I wrote here last summer about memorizing poetry. I believe it’s a very useful exercise, but we haven’t done enough of it in our homeschool. Scripture, yes; poetry, no. What poetry have you memorized? Is memorization of poetry a good thing to require of elementary and secondary students? If so, what should they memorize?