David and Tim, I respect your experience but I wonder if I have in mind a different type and level of student than the ones you're teaching and envisioning. The question at the top of the thread mentions students, but it doesn't specify what kind.
In an elective university-level course, chosen by students who know what they're getting into, the sort of student who is phobic about public speaking isn't likely to be in the class. The students who choose the course will probably get all the benefits both of you describe.
In a required introductory survey course at a high school or community college, I think there's a lot more room for the sort of bad experience that adults have occasionally told me about: a required recitation that left an enduring bad taste in the reluctant student's mouth. Perhaps it's rare, but the stories have stuck with me.
I guess I'm less worried about teaching new poets than I am about creating and developing an audience for poetry, and I guess that's why I'm affected by stories of the ways people have been alienated from poetry. It's good to hear that recitation-from-memory has positive results for the most part.
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