Ella's Illustration for The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson
As part of our cobbled together first grade homeschool curriculum, Ella has been memorizing and reciting poetry each week. My mother has always expounded the importance of memorization. In the 1950s and earlier I know it was quite common for children to memorize essays and poetry. I think the popularity began to wane in the 70s; I know I was not required to memorize much - Romeo's soliloquy "To be or not to be" and a Shakespeare sonnet or two (Shall I compare thee to a summers day?).
I am always impressed by people who can recite sonnets or poems or quip with a a funny Shakespeare line or oh so apropos line from somewhere. These words plucked so easily and quickly from their minds. They don't have to search - it just rolls off the tongue. I want that for my children. And Ella loves it! It is a delight to watch how quickly the young mind can memorize a poem or a song. We break some of the longer more complex works into parts to learn.
I did, however, begin to wonder about the benefits of memorization for children (beyond being able to throw in appropriate references and quips at dinner parties in later life!). One essay that I found really interesting is
"Got Poetry" by Jim Holt. In
essence he states "It’s all about pleasure. And it’s a cheap pleasure." Indeed! The pleasure we gain from the beauty of words, especially those we sew into our hearts and minds, cannot be overlooked. In
"In Defense of Memorization", Michael Knox Beran provides more scholarly advocacy for
memorization. (I
particularly liked that he listed some of the works memorized in the
1927 Course of Study in Literature for Elementary Schools. It gave me some ideas of things we might like to tackle next.) One thing he puts forward that struck me was this:
Classic verse teaches children an enormous amount about order, measure,
proportion, correspondence, balance, symmetry, agreement, temporal relation
(tense), and contingent possibility (mood). Mastering these concepts involves
the most fundamental kind of learning, for these are the basic categories of
thought and the framework in which we organize sensory experience.
I was talking with a friend today and we were discussing the benefits of reading out loud. Poetry certainly has that going for it as well. To be articulate is certainly desirable (in life, in business) in our world.
We have searched for a good volume of poetry that is kid friendly with good choices for memorization but have not found it. We just look at volumes of poetry we have or borrow from the library and pick poems we like. If you have a good anthology you can recommend please do. If you have a single poem that might be good, please share it. And I'm curious, do any of you that have school age children use poetry memorization?
Sew Mama Sew is hosting a giveaway day. Today they will post a master list of bloggers and web sites that are giving away something. After you enter my giveaway, pop over there and see what else you might want to try to win. The giveaways listed must be either handmade or something that can be used for making handmade gifts (fabric, ribbon, etc.).
Something for Mama: My dear friend Ginger just gave me more fabric swatches. Several are just the right size for a nice tote bag. So, Mama can win the tote bag pictured below. It has a bluish side and a whitish side and is made out of decorator weight fabric.
To enter: Please leave a comment (don't forget to leave your email address if its not available on your profile). While you are here, I'd love you to take a moment and wander around my blog or at least bookmark it and come check it out later. I will pick a winner at random on Sunday December 6th. Thanks for stopping by.
