No matter how well versed my students are in memory work, long narrative poems tend to be a source of anxiety—but only at first. Such is the case with Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem, “The Lady of Shallot” At nineteen stanzas long with nine verses each, it is little wonder my students look downcast when I first tell them we will be memorizing the whole thing.
“That’s a sha-lot of words,” a student once quipped.
Nevertheless, within the first week or so, a sense of pride and accomplishment takes over. Students realize that long memory work is no different than short memory work, provided it is done in a well-paced, strategic manner. Then by the end, they shrug off the assignment like it was no big deal. Of course, that’s not really the case. The work is hard and even relentless, but it stops feeling that way once they understand how to manage it.
But why take on such a big project in the first place? In a world where information is readily available with the swipe of a finger or the tap of a keyboard, why should students invest time in committing anything, let alone a poem about a fictional character, to memory anyways?
As classical educators have long held, the reasons are many!
To begin with, memorizing poetry provides students with a ready store of language patterns to draw from. I have seen this firsthand over and over again. After committing a poem to memory, student writing will showcase many of the new patterns, not to mention a huge stockpile of new vocabulary words.
Similarly, memory work deepens student understanding of the material and allows them to engage it in a more meaningful way than simply reading it and discussing it. By spending so much time imprinting the words into their minds, they come to embody the ideas behind them.
Philosophically speaking, the poems become a type of music for their souls that will stay with them throughout their lives.
“All that is well and good,” one might say, “but give me a more scientific justification!”
Well, here is one. Memory work strengthens the brain and makes it more agile for all sorts of other work. Many of us know this through our own experience. Just think of all the phone numbers your mother stored in her memory before the age of cellphones on top of the endless doctor’s appointments and soccer practices and birthdays and so forth. Compared to a lot of us today, she would be considered a savant. Yet, all she was really doing was making her brain work. The more it worked at memorizing information, the better it got at it.
Research backs this up as well. Take a look at Benedict Carey’s book, How We Learn: The Surprising Truth about When, Where, and Why It Happens. He draws together a vast array of research that shows how the brain gets stronger as it commits more things to memory. What’s more, the possibilities of what and how much one can memorize are seemingly endless.
That brings us to the question of how students should memorize “The Lady of Shalott.” I recommend using a variety of strategies, all of which should be led by the teacher and reinforced at home.
A Little at a Time
The first and most fundamental is chunking the poem into smaller sections. That makes it much more manageable for students because they can work on memorizing a little at a time. “The Lady of Shalott” has four parts, with four stanzas in the first, four in the second, five in the third, and six in the fourth. As such, I have the class memorize one part at a time and end up with four quizzes throughout the duration of our study. I use the strategies below for each part.
Recite. Recite. Recite.
For several days, we simply recite an entire part of the poem together as a class. They may have a copy out to read along or just listen and join in by ear. Either way, students gain an initial understanding of how the poem sounds and grow accustomed to its rhythm and melody.
Sometimes we recite as a single voice. Other times, I say a line and they repeat it. Still other times, I say the beginning of a line, and they finish it. I like using a combination of these approaches because it forces students to attend more closely to what they are saying. As we get more comfortable, I begin calling on students to lead the class through similar practice.
This type of repeated recitation is absolutely essential in memory work. As such, I encourage students to do similar work at home. Some, however, do not end up needing to do any because the classroom practice is enough.
Memory Moves
The next step is to ask students to come up with motions to go along with the poem. It might seem a little silly at first, especially for older students, but it is a dynamic way for them to visually imagine the story behind the poem and cue their memory in the process. Plus, it tends to be a lot of fun!
To that end, we line up around the classroom, and I assign a couple verses each to pairs of students, being sure to match the order of the verses with their line order. They come up with some kind of “move,” like spreading their arms wide as if they were separating water when they say, “On either side of the river lie.”
After the first pair teaches its move to the rest of the class, the second group goes. Then, we put it all together—words and moves—from the beginning. We repeat this process until we get through the whole poem.
By the end, students have a strong association between the moves and the words, which is mutually reinforcing. I always smile to myself when I see them quietly wriggling their bodies in recollection when it comes time for a quiz.
Writing Makes Perfect
The final step is helping students learn to write it out in proper poetic format, meaning they separate the verses and stanzas appropriately. For this, I have students number each verse in the stanza 1-9 and so forth. I give them the first word or two on the board, and they fill in whatever else they can remember.
This is always harder than the oral recitation, largely because it is completed independently. Students who think they know the whole thing soon realize they don’t. As such, it’s an important “check-point.” We write out the poem many times, and students remember more and more with each practice.
When quiz time rolls around, most students ace it, and of them do well.
