To Students Learning Poetry

   It's fun to recite lines of poetry . . . as you play, as you work, even as you suffer some disappointment--or rail against it.  My own personal outbursts include reciting "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" (W. B. Yeats) to my dog as she "helped" me plant my "nine bean rows."  I realize that if you are less than "two-and-twenty," (A. E. Housman), then you may have a better example of "play."  For me, obligatory visits with the older relations was always like work, but I was "Gorgeously arrayed, boned and stayed." (Amy Lowell)  When I lose, "There is no joy in Mudville" (Ernest Lawrence Thayer), and when I win, "I am the master of my fate,/ I am the captain of my soul." (William Ernest Henley)

"When I was one-and-twenty/ I heard a wise man say, . . ." (Housman)

   If you are not yet two-and-twenty, you may have to memorize 500 lines of poetry--an easy, enjoyable task.  If your teacher hasn't made that assignment, do it anyway.  Knowing lines of poetry will imbue your life with distinctive new dimensions--and help you keep a sense of humor!
   I'm not telling you my age, only that a few decades past, my senior year in high school, my English teacher had us memorize 500 lines.  Do you know that I can still recite Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" verbatim?  It's true!  I double-checked with the text to be sure I hadn't got any words wrong or omitted any.  The same goes for a slew of Wordsworth's and Keats' poems, and the list goes on.
   I'm not showing off, but making a point:  what you learn by rote at an early age will stay with you all your life.  On the other hand, I find it very difficult to memorize anything today.  A few years ago, I tried to commit John Masefield's "Sea Fever."  (Love that rhythm!)  I thought I had it, but a year later, I couldn't remember anything but the first two lines and "the wheel's kick."  (I throw my shoulders into that rhythm!)  Hey, . . . if you're going boating, . . . those are some good lines to take with you in your head.  As I said before, poetry will add another dimension to your experiences.
   I hope I've convinced you by now to use the internet to find poetry you'd like to memorize.  You'll be rewarded all your life when you encounter it again in films, lectures, references in books, and more.  Memory is magical.  Besides, it's always your best friend.
   I would advise starting with a  classic, short poem, perhaps one of Wordsworth's.  The English romantics are always favorites of young students.  I must admit that I liked them best when I was young, and perhaps because "The Child is father of the man" (Wordsworth), I prefer them still.  Try that one:  "My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold" by Wordsworth.  You'll find yourself reciting it next time you see a rainbow!
   Come back again.  I'm working on a space where you can comment and leave some of your ideas for other poetry scholars.