Joe, thanks for reminding me of The Creation. Never memorized it, but always loved it!

There were certainly some standard Canadian set pieces, at least up to the 60s. I can't say I ever liked "along-the-line-of-smokey(?)-hills-the-crimson-forest- stands..." but I still LOVE

"Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the sky on laughter silvered wings."

And, thankfully, have re-thought Flanders Fields, almost brought to its knees by bad drilling in school ... but has withstood such malpractice.

We also did a lot of the standard American stuff of the time - Robert Frost (did he write "whose woods are these?")

My mother, an ex-teacher, tells me that some years ago it was decided that memory work was unproductive. What twit decided that one, then? High Flight has pulled me out of the pits of despair more often than I care to remember...

sian