Every time I see a rainbow, the refrain from one of William Wordsworth’s poems pops into my head: “My heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky.” When I see a falling star, I’m reminded of a sweet children’s poem by Sarah Teasdale: “Blinding the north as it went by/ too burning and too quick to hold/ too lovely to be bought or sold,/ good only to make wishes on,/ and then forever to be gone.”
My parents taught me and my siblings these poems when we were younger, and I’m grateful for this gift of poetry from them. Coming to Hillsdale and having to memorize poetry for classes has not only helped me appreciate this gift from my parents, but has also shown me how worthwhile memorizing poetry still is.
At the beginning of every class, Professor of English David Whalen will have us repeat a line or two of verse until we have the entire poem memorized after a few classes. Although he usually chides us as we stumble over the lines, he perseveres in coaching us since he believes so strongly in the effort’s worthwhileness.
When I asked him why he had us memorize poetry in class, Whalen explained how poetry furnishes the mind with the most eloquent language and elevated images, influencing students’ own language capacity. More importantly, he said, this in turn improves students’ ability to live in the world and to experience it more fully.
“You are what you think,” he said, “so why not fill it with parts of Shakespeare and lyric poetry? It will transform your inner life, and it turns out that you will become a higher order of being.”
Whalen also noted the natural affinity between poetry and memory, suggesting one was made for the other. This also speaks to the practical benefits memorizing poetry can have for brain health. Medical institutions such as Harvard Medical School and the Mayo Clinic strongly recommend challenging one’s memory by constantly learning new things, of which I’m sure poetry could be included. So for the lingering skeptics, it appears that learning poetry by heart may improve one’s soul while also improving one’s health, and even perhaps one’s academic performance.
Although this may still sound too grandiose or unrealistic, all it may take is a little scrap of paper with a poem scribbled on it, like the one Associate Professor of English Dwight Lindley will sometimes keep in his pocket and pull out on his daily walk home. The results are lovely, as he often recites what he has learned by heart before my Great Books II class.
One of my favorite poems he shared was “Entrance” by the former poet laureate of California, Dana Gioia, whom I also had the pleasure to hear when he visited campus last semester. A renowned and brilliant poet, he began his talk by reciting classic poems and speaking of the importance of absorbing as much great literature and poetry as possible before trying to write one’s own poetry.
Even if you have no desire to eventually write your own poetry, you could still make the beauty of others’ poetry your own.