I really enjoyed reading this (very belatedly!) as this wasn’t something I grew up with at all but I’m trying to encourage it in my kids - and to do it alongside them.
I’m always amazed how quickly my daughter can memorize a poem. If I read it enough it just becomes a part of her, like breathing. It’s cool to share that with your kids for sure!
This was so lovely. And so inspirational! It was a new year's resolution of mine to memorize one poem a month. I've fallen away from this goal and you've inspired me to get back at it! I especially loved learning about Aristotle's conception as memory as a soul enterprise, not just an intellectual one. So true.
Wonderfully written post. Your grandfather sounds like someone really special, and I wish I was encouraged to read more poetry in school! As someone who devours the classics and yet still avoids poetry because of sheer intimidation...where would you recommend someone start reading it? Which poets?
He really was! :) And I think many educators are just as intimidated when it comes to poetry as their students which is why we really don't get much of it in school. My poetry experience was limited to a class or two in undergrad so that being said, I am no expert with it! I might recommend picking up an anthology (like the Norton Anthology) so you can get acquainted with a lot of poets and their work. That way you can know who you want to go deeper with!
I memorized poetry at home growing up. My mom was an English major and was always quoting Shakespeare or ee cummings or Whitman. And I saw her try to memorize song lyrics, which made me want to get good at memorizing lyrics. Before you could just Google the lyrics to anything, she would listen again and again and write down the lyrics with pencil to learn them (I remember she had handwritten songs from the Wizard of Oz on her bedside table so she could learn them to sing to us).
My daughter's classical Catholic school does recitations of poetry, the preschool learning a poem every month to recite with feeling. For kindergarten graduation last week, the children all recited the 23 Psalm.
You're encouraging me to pick a poem to memorize. I'm finishing volume three of a Theodore Roosevelt biography and his quoting and referencing of books and poems was prodigious. I might try memorizing The Man in the Arena section of his speech at the Sarbonne. Right before that section, which I think a lot of people know at least as a reference, he came down hard against the willful barrenness of birth control. He didn't care what you accomplished in life if you could have had children and didn't. I haven't heard anyone quote that part of the speech before, but it's striking! I can consider that I'm doing my part in "the war of the cradle" as I memorize and share poetry with my children.
I really enjoyed reading this (very belatedly!) as this wasn’t something I grew up with at all but I’m trying to encourage it in my kids - and to do it alongside them.
I’m always amazed how quickly my daughter can memorize a poem. If I read it enough it just becomes a part of her, like breathing. It’s cool to share that with your kids for sure!
This was so lovely. And so inspirational! It was a new year's resolution of mine to memorize one poem a month. I've fallen away from this goal and you've inspired me to get back at it! I especially loved learning about Aristotle's conception as memory as a soul enterprise, not just an intellectual one. So true.
Thank you, Katie! It's so funny how similar we are haha! Do you have any favorite poems or poets I should check out?
Wonderfully written post. Your grandfather sounds like someone really special, and I wish I was encouraged to read more poetry in school! As someone who devours the classics and yet still avoids poetry because of sheer intimidation...where would you recommend someone start reading it? Which poets?
He really was! :) And I think many educators are just as intimidated when it comes to poetry as their students which is why we really don't get much of it in school. My poetry experience was limited to a class or two in undergrad so that being said, I am no expert with it! I might recommend picking up an anthology (like the Norton Anthology) so you can get acquainted with a lot of poets and their work. That way you can know who you want to go deeper with!
Good idea...thank you!
I memorized poetry at home growing up. My mom was an English major and was always quoting Shakespeare or ee cummings or Whitman. And I saw her try to memorize song lyrics, which made me want to get good at memorizing lyrics. Before you could just Google the lyrics to anything, she would listen again and again and write down the lyrics with pencil to learn them (I remember she had handwritten songs from the Wizard of Oz on her bedside table so she could learn them to sing to us).
My daughter's classical Catholic school does recitations of poetry, the preschool learning a poem every month to recite with feeling. For kindergarten graduation last week, the children all recited the 23 Psalm.
You're encouraging me to pick a poem to memorize. I'm finishing volume three of a Theodore Roosevelt biography and his quoting and referencing of books and poems was prodigious. I might try memorizing The Man in the Arena section of his speech at the Sarbonne. Right before that section, which I think a lot of people know at least as a reference, he came down hard against the willful barrenness of birth control. He didn't care what you accomplished in life if you could have had children and didn't. I haven't heard anyone quote that part of the speech before, but it's striking! I can consider that I'm doing my part in "the war of the cradle" as I memorize and share poetry with my children.