Here is a beautiful article reflecting on dulling of our sense in remembering or memorizing things...as we used to do before the advent of computers. Our brains are losing their capacity to memorize not only poems but many charts and tables we used to know by heart in the past. Isn't this a kinda degradation of our brain power which is now become almost totally dependent on computers and similar scientific gadgets. Certainly this is food for thought for everyone.,
Maz
This piece originally appeared on The American Reader.
Why is poetry these days so hard to remember?
In my twenties, I decided to try my hand at memorizing an entire poem—mostly because I seemed to constantly find myself stuck at some boring public event (panel, seminar, concert) where pulling out a book would be rude. To fill my new mental hip flask, I selected the liquor of Tennyson’s “Ulysses,” which follows the retired hero’s thoughts as they build up from inchoate yearning to the famous resolve “to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
The first step in memorization is to read your target piece over and over as many times as possible. To involve my body physically with the process, I printed it out and traced the letters with my finger as I read, simultaneously whispering the words under my breath (subvocalization, I had read, activates different brain systems and improves the quality of recollection). Once I’d gotten fragments of the poem down, I tried writing the words out longhand, but found both my hand and mind cramping up from lack of practice. Clearly I needed a different approach to physicality, and eventually it found me on the long walks I used to take around the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle. As I wandered, lines from the poem came unbidden into my mind, until each physical step turned into a metric foot. I walked, stopped to peek at the worn-out printout, and walked again. Slowly, I increased the number of lines I could recite between glances.
http://www.salon.com/2014/04/27/the_lost_art_of_memorizing_poetry_partner/?source=newsletter
Maz
This piece originally appeared on The American Reader.
In my twenties, I decided to try my hand at memorizing an entire poem—mostly because I seemed to constantly find myself stuck at some boring public event (panel, seminar, concert) where pulling out a book would be rude. To fill my new mental hip flask, I selected the liquor of Tennyson’s “Ulysses,” which follows the retired hero’s thoughts as they build up from inchoate yearning to the famous resolve “to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
The first step in memorization is to read your target piece over and over as many times as possible. To involve my body physically with the process, I printed it out and traced the letters with my finger as I read, simultaneously whispering the words under my breath (subvocalization, I had read, activates different brain systems and improves the quality of recollection). Once I’d gotten fragments of the poem down, I tried writing the words out longhand, but found both my hand and mind cramping up from lack of practice. Clearly I needed a different approach to physicality, and eventually it found me on the long walks I used to take around the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle. As I wandered, lines from the poem came unbidden into my mind, until each physical step turned into a metric foot. I walked, stopped to peek at the worn-out printout, and walked again. Slowly, I increased the number of lines I could recite between glances.
http://www.salon.com/2014/04/27/the_lost_art_of_memorizing_poetry_partner/?source=newsletter
