[Don Jones]

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[Jayne Osborn]

Hi Don,

I like students to memorize poems but fifty lines is quite a task, and could be off-putting and counter-productive. A poem that's not too daunting to learn, perhaps 'The Road Not Taken' or something similar, is a good place to start.
Isn't it preferable to be able to recite several poems, than fifty lines of a long poem such as 'In Praise of Limestone'?
I memorized Leigh Hunt's 'Abou Ben Adhem and the Angel' for homework when I was twelve, and can still recite it - and still love it!

Teachers have a huge responsibility and many of them have turned children off poetry for life, which is totally unforgiveable and to be avoided at all costs. The age of the students is a major consideration when choosing the style, and length, of a poem for them to learn; 'Less is More' is worth bearing in mind IMO (though giving them the choice would probably result in just a limerick!).

[Don Jones]

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[Wintaka]

In case anyone is unfamiliar with the story:

Late in life, Pablo Neruda was giving a performance in a huge soccer stadium, packed with fans. Members of the audience shouted out a request for a poem from his earliest days. Neruda apologized, explaining that his memory was fading and that it had been such a long time since he had performed that particular piece. Not a problem. The crowd, in unison, rose up and recited it to him!

Obviously, in cultures that support professional poets the idea of reading from a book is just as unthinkable as stage or movie actors reading from scripts. In this case, cause and effect are one; speaking both generally and crossculturally, performances fill concert halls and stadiums, readings fill telephone booths.

-o-

[David Mason]

My kids do a minimum of 100 lines per class. It ain't hard at all. They can recite them in increments, and sometimes I have them re-recite them at the end of it all so the lines will be lodged in their heads.

When I teach Romantic poets I begin the oral exam by asking each student to recite and explicate at least 25 lines from memory.

[John Whitworth]

I can recite bloody great wodges of Shakespeare. We did indeed have to memorise some of the speeches. And how many Brits of my age can recite 'Slowly, silently, now the moon... Oh, and I can do quite a bit of Tam o'Shanter. It's all those Burns Suppers.

Tennyson is a good guy to memorise. Kipling - lots of bits of Kipling

Bits of Wendy Cope are memorable. Jesus, of his goodness and his grace, Jesus found me a parking space. On the other hand I can't remember much Ted Hughes and as the years go by I hope I shall achieve total forgetfulness.

I can remember fair bits of Sam Gwynn. It's one of the reasons he's my favourite American poet living.

[Jim Burrows]

I had three experiences of having to recite poetry back in olden times.

In high school, my teacher asked us to memorize and recite, to her alone, "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow...". I did it, and felt stupid, but some of it stuck with me (except I found later that I had remembered the second line as "Creeps past this petty pace from day to day..."). I guess it seemed so strange at the time I didn't expect it to make sense.

The second time, taking an Intro. to Poetry class in college, we were asked to stand before the class and recite a small number of lines. I remember two recitations besides my own: one was a hammy theater student who recited part of "The Witch of Coos", playing mother and son in different voices, and nailed it. The second was an otherwise confident and perfectly intelligent student athlete who was visibly nervous and humiliated by the experience. With this method, there is a real danger of turning students off to poetry for good. To some students, it can seem cruel.

The third time, in grad. school, a professor asked us to recite poetry, but allowed us to type it into his computer, if we so chose. We could also recite it to him, or to the class. What's wrong with this method? People, including students, love poetry in different ways. Some of us don't agree that a poem doesn't really live until it's spoken aloud. If that's the case, I've missed out on many of the poems I love the most.