Hey everyone, I decided to memorize all the songs from the Odyssey. In 3 days, using the memory palace technique, I managed to memorize 100 lines by heart. But after reading that champions can memorize 100+ lines in 15 minutes, I’m starting to seriously doubt my system…
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100 lines from the Odyssey in 3 days is incredible. Please don’t sell yourself short!
Memory champions are usually working with pre-structured, simpler data like numbers or cards.
There are sometimes poems in competition, but epic poetry? I don’t think I’ve seen that… depending on which version of The Odyssey you’re using, I’m guessing you’re looking at a whole different beast from what would be required at a competition.
Even some of the easier translations are still dense, poetic, layered.
So, in my view there’s not much to be gained from comparing your efforts against competitors. Especially not if you’re memorizing it to connect with Homer and the ancient world, which provides very deep outcomes indeed.
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Hmm. I wonder how long it took Homer.
Thank you for the response; it has spurred me with even greater resolve to achieve my goal. Indeed, I overlooked that competitions do not call for epic poems. For the translation of the Odyssey, I am using one as close as possible to the original, preserving all feasible epithets and other literary devices from the ancient world.
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