Why memorize a poem?

Gorgeous photo, huh?
This would be a good place to work on memorizing - or writing - a new poem.

Thanks to www.anewenglandlife.com for capturing the moment.

I tutor English several hours a week, working with students returning to college aftr a long hiatus, ESL students, or students with learning disabilities. Sometimes, with all three combined.

Many, though not all, of the students I work with are in developmental classes or first-level college English. Their projects often intrigue me, perhaps because I never mind going back to the basics.

A few days ago, one of my "regulars" came in with the assignment to learn Robert Frost's most famous poem by heart. We had 30 minutes.

I wasn't sure she could do it. But we started. She referred to the poem as "Stopping by THE woods on a Snowy Evening." For some reason, she needed to state that article until I asked her which woods, exactly, she was referring to.

Moving on to the poem itself, I recited a line, and she told it back to me. It went along like this until she had it at least partly cemented in her memory.

Where she got stuck, I prompted her - not just with Frost's words but with his intent. We broke off from memorizing a few times to talk about the meaning of the poem. Lines she said she loved, she hadn't really thought about. She was taken with the rhythm, the rhyme, the pretty picture they seemed to convey.

When she understood more of the background of Frost, why he'd written the poem, what he meant or might have meant, she started to find it easier to memorize. We agreed that she needed to emphasize certain words, that she couldn't just throw off that second "and miles to go before I sleep."

That line means something, and what she did with her tone and inflection as she recited it would change how the poem came across to her audience.

Next post - More on the poem and memorization