BY HEART

On Memorizing Poetry

A WORKSHOP FACILITATED BY PROF. KATIE PETERSON

Wouldn’t you like to know a few poems by heart? Wouldn’t you like to know how to memorize a poem? Poetry is a technology of memory, and there’s no better way to understand a poem than to memorize it. A memorized poem offers the mysterious pleasure of poetry with the useful solidity of aiming at a correct answer. Memorizing poems has been shown to have many benefits, including a greater capacity for attention and retention of other material, a greater ability to comprehend complex sentence structures, and an ability to impress your friends. 

In this two-hour workshop we’re going to talk about why memorizing poems is good for you, and why it’s good for poems. We’re going to memorize a few (easy!) poems together, and we’ll talk about techniques for memorizing more. You’ll leave with a printed anthology of poems that are easy and fun to memorize. Poems discussed / memorized in this workshop may include “The Tyger” by William Blake, “The Collar” by George Herbert, “Hope is the thing with feathers,” by Emily Dickinson, “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks, and more. If you have a poem “by heart,” I encourage you to bring it to share with the group – we will applaud you! 

This workshop is open to students and members of the BINST Alumni Association. RSVP is required.

Date: Friday, March 13

Time: 3:00PM - 5:00PM

Location: Berkeley Institute (2134 Allston Way, 2nd Floor)