I agree somewhat about flatness, David. And makes me think I shd go
back to private outloud reading of my own, and others.

I was talking only this a few days ago to a friend who is a poet but
also works in neuroscience. He noted at some recent readings which
involved more than one poet working together that the poet waiting in
line, so to speak, to chime in, was mouthing the words silently. The
lips moving with the hips maybe. He also said the remarks in the
Guardian article about the brain and pattern and structure are
correct.

 ________________________

Jill Jones www.jilljones.com.au 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Poetryetc: poetry and poetics" 
To:
Cc:
Sent:Thu, 14 Jun 2012 07:14:30 +0100
Subject:Re: memorizing poetry

 I used to love memorizing poetry too, but of my own volition. I have
 reservations about compulsory recitals.

 On a related issue, performing poetry, I think solo reading aloud of
 successful poems beats attending public performance anytime. I was
reading
 out alone some Herrick pieces the other day and discovering all sorts
of
 wee things about them. It's noticeable that a lot of post-1914 verse
falls
 flat in this respect, and I wondered whether it's because more recent
poets
 compose for silent reading, or rather they are habituated to silent
reading
 and write thus, whereas our antique masters wrote for pages that
would be
 read aloud? Silent reading among the educated classes is historically
quite
 recent, it begins in very late Roman times, and probably only spread
across
 society with the advent of mass literacy programs. i know my mother
used to
 'mouth' words still. So perhaps the performance versus page issue is
 something of a red herring, or at least an unwonted movement of the
hips.
 Rather than lips?

 On 14 June 2012 02:50, Max Richards  wrote:

 > http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/books/review/Holt-t.html?_r=1
 >
 >
 >
http://www.salon.com/2012/06/13/make_kids_memorize_poetry/?source=newsletter
 >
 > Moi - once loved memorising and recalling, and wish it was a
general thing
 > in education everywhere.
 >
 > Norman Doidge, the brain science writer, praises it also.
 >

 -- 
 David Joseph Bircumshaw
 "We are shallow, mababaw ang kaligayahan."
 -* F. Sionil José*
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