Do you think it is worth learning poems by heart?
By John Welford
@indexer (4852)
Leicester, England
October 6, 2015 4:23am CST
In times gone by it was regular practice for children to learn poems by heart - and recite them in public if you weren't too careful! However, this doesn't seem to be done these days - or is it?
Some people reckon that learning poems by heart is good for people at any age - especially if the poems are ones that say something important and are helpful in one's daily life.
There is also an idea that learning a poem is good for training the brain - the rhythms and inflexions of the words help neural pathways to be cleared and make it easier to think clearly and remember other important things.
Maybe you have poems in mind that have never left you because you learned them long ago?
9 people like this
10 responses
@MALUSE (69373)
• Germany
6 Oct 15
In German schools the custom has nearly completely disappeared, too. I don't know why because children learn the longest poems by heart without any problems - and they all want to recite them! I made my pupils learn poems by heart, even the older ones, even in English. I told them that they couldn't even dream of passing their A-levels without a sonnett by Shakespeare. That was complete nonsense but they believed me and learnt one.
1 person likes this
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
6 Oct 15
oh yes. i loved doing that and still remember some i actually practised myself because i loved them so much. a lot by Eugene Field
1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
6 Oct 15
Any poem that I know by heart, I taught myself. We didn't do that in school even all those years ago when I was there. But it's nice to have poems or scripture memorized. You can get all the advantages of reading anywhere you happen to be, even if you have no book.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (222855)
• Chile
6 Oct 15
Learning poems was part of my childhood as it was to listen to my mother reciting to us whenthere was a blackout.
Now I sing and recite while I shower and I feel thrilled when a verse and then a poem comes again to my head after decades.
@TiarasOceanView (70022)
• United States
7 Oct 15
It is done here where I live John.
There are poetry clubs.
I dont go, but my son has gone a couple of times.
1 person likes this
@kevinakash (2084)
• Sri Lanka
7 Oct 15
I think learning poems by heart should be continued because it develops chidrens memory and the concentration and also their discipline so this should be continued though I i didnot like it when I was studying English literature
@chaitra001 (3278)
• Bangalore, India
6 Oct 15
We used to do in our school days but now I feel its just waste of your memory unless the poem really reaches the students and serves its purpose to teach them something important.
@intal_carl (299)
• Quezon City, Philippines
6 Oct 15
Yes, because the heart can tell the true message of the poem.
