When I decided to study and try to write poetry, I had very little familiarity with the poetry that was already out there. As mentioned in my about article, I had previously given up the idea that adult poetry had anything to offer. In order to decide what kind of poetry to aspire to, I combed through books of poetry to see if there were any poems I actually did like. I decided to copy these and paste them into a notebook in order to study them and write my own brief critique of each one with the purpose of working out my own values in regard to poetry. I found this a very valuable exercise. Having to communicate about something in writing forces one to make the effort to think clearly about it, which brings up previously unthought-of ideas or new questions and quests for answers on the subject .
After collecting over a hundred poems in a collection I became very fond of, I decided I wanted to memorize my favorites. I’ve always enjoyed the satisfaction of having something memorized. This I found was a valuable learning tool in itself. When making the effort to memorize a poem, I found I had to study it very closely- to know the structure, every word and pattern of words and know the meaning and implication of each. I found it gave me an intimate knowledge of the poem I never would have had from only reading it multiple times.
Currently I have sixty poems memorized that I keep in practice with and I continue to memorize other favorites, although at a much slower rate than at first.
There are three basic reasons why I memorize poems:
- Memorizing a poem gives me the intimate knowledge of the poem that I explained above.
- Having a poem memorized means having it to hand anytime it is needed. I find certain poems not only enjoyable but inspirational or mentally useful in other ways, such as calming. I have one poem in my memorized collection that I’ve used to help me relax to sleep. It was so effective at first that I never got through the whole recitation!
- Memorizing something is good mental exercise. At my age I feel it’s good to get all the mental exercise I can get!
Poetry for Life 