Erik’s mother saw yesterday’s post on poetry slams and sent this.
“I do not know if you are aware of a competition held in England in April for young people 14-18 years old who recite poems by heart. You can read about it on www.poetrybyheart.org.uk. I found out about it when I read a Swedish newspaper where they suggested it would be good if they had this type of competition in Swedish schools too.”
When I was in school, we were obliged to memorize both poetry and Bible verses. I still remember poems and verses going back decades, even some lines in French. The trend away from any sort of “rote learning” has an unfortunate side.
Having beautiful words and cadences in your head can help you so much with your writing. (It also helps when you are standing in a long line with nothing interesting to think about.) Educators threw out the baby with the bathwater when they decided kids should understand, not just memorize, historical facts, science, and math. Understanding is good, and sometimes it comes from memorization.
I’m going to reuse a funny little poetry recitation that I posted once before. Jim Clark, Poetry Reincarnations, copyrighted the animation and explains it on YouTube.
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