Content

• Steps
• Method 1 of 2: Metric Poem
• Method 2 of 2: Free verse poem

Learning a poem by heart is a typical school assignment in literature. However, not everyone finds it easy to remember and beautifully read the work of Pushkin, Yesenin or Shakespeare. Our technique may seem at first glance complicated, requiring a lot of knowledge, but if you follow it and improve with every step, then over time you will be able to quickly and efficiently memorize a variety of poems.

Steps

Method 1 of 2: Metric Poem

1. 1 Read the poem aloud several times. It is important to remember that any poetry, rhymed or not, comes from oral tradition and is meant to be understood by ear. Poetry has been entertainment and a way to tell a story long before television. In those days when many were illiterate, poetry acquired certain characteristics, including rhyme and poetic meter, which helped to remember the poem for those who could not read it from the sheet.
   • Before you start memorizing a poem, read it aloud several times. Try rewriting or retyping it.
   • Do not pronounce words mechanically; try to read with expression, as if you are telling a story to the audience. Lower your voice where a calm narration is required and emphasize emotional moments in intonation. Help yourself with gestures to highlight the most important things. Call on theatrical skill to help.
   • It is very important to read the poem out loud, and not just to yourself. If you hear it, you will be able to better pick up the rhyme and rhythm, and this will help to remember it.
2. 2 Find words that you don't understand. The language of poetry is very rich and poets often use words that are unfamiliar to you. If you need to learn an old poem, you will surely encounter outdated words or phrases in it, as well as unfamiliar names or titles. For example, let's take a poem by Alexander Pushkin "The Prophet".
   • There are many archaisms in this poem: "fingers" (fingers), "pupils" (eyes), "opened" (opened), "mouth" (mouth), "upper" (located in the sky), "right hand" (right hand) ... The word "seraphim", meaning an angel of the highest rank, may also seem unfamiliar.
   • If you retell in your own words, for example, the first eight lines, it will turn out: “In the desert I met an angel. He touched my eyes with his light fingers, and they opened like an eagle's.
   • Sometimes the difficulty is caused not by the meanings of the words themselves, but by the metaphors to which the poet resorts. Let's go over the text of the "Prophet" again. Now you have found the meanings of all unfamiliar words individually, but it may be difficult for you to understand the essence of individual phrases or the text as a whole.
   • “And I heeded the shudder of the sky, / And the flight of the high angels, / And the reptile underwater passage” - when the seraphim touched the ears of the prophet, he acquired the gift of hearing everything, from the flight of angels in the sky to the movement of fish in the sea.
   • We see the transformation of man: he acquires “the sting of a wise snake” instead of a tongue, “coal blazing with fire” instead of a heart. On the one hand, this text echoes the Book of Isaiah and the theme of the purification necessary for serving God; on the other hand, Pushkin's prophet embodies the ideal of a poet and free poetry. He sees everything, hears everything, speaks the truth, and a fire burns in his soul.
   • The concluding lines speak of the purpose of a true poet and prophet - “burn the hearts of people with a verb”: his words should be such as to penetrate right into the heart and not leave people indifferent.
   • If you find it difficult to understand a poem, find out what the textbook or literature study says about it.
3. 3 Understand and feel the story told in the poem. When you have dealt with all the complex words, expressions and images, you need to understand for yourself its theme and plot. If you do not understand what the poem is about, it will be difficult for you to learn it, since it is very difficult to remember words behind which you see neither connection nor meaning. Before you can memorize a text, you should be able to tell from memory what it is about. At this stage, do not try to reproduce the poem verbatim - only a summary.
   • Some poems are narrative in nature, that is, from beginning to end, a story develops in them. A. Pushkin's "Anchar" can serve as a good example.
   • At the beginning of the poem, a desert and an ominous poisonous tree are described. Neither bird nor beast comes close to him. But then, the poet tells us, man sends another man, his slave, for poison; the slave obediently sets out on the road, in the morning brings poison to the king and dies; the king impregnates arrows with poison, and they bring death to neighboring possessions.
4. 4 Find the connection between the stanzas. Not all verses are told in this way: first something happened, then another. However, all of them are talking about something, and the best examples - which are usually taught in school - develop from beginning to end even in the absence of a story. If there is no plot as such in the poem, try to understand its meaning and the connection between the stanzas or parts. For example, let's take "At Christmas, everyone is a little wise ..." by Joseph Brodsky.
   • The poem begins with the words "At Christmas, everyone is a little magician." The theme and time of action are thus indicated in the very first line.
   • Most of this work is not subject to strict chronology; events of biblical times and contemporary realities of the poet are intertwined, rather associatively than in accordance with formal logic.
   • So, the wise men in the poem are the most ordinary people who buy food and gifts for the holidays. The poet paints a picture of chaos and chaos in the store, and in the next line he unexpectedly says that the road to Bethlehem is not visible behind the chaos. But people carry gifts, get into transport with them, go home and yard, even knowing that there is no one in the cave (one should understand the realities - we are talking about the atheistic Soviet Union).
   • The thought of emptiness evokes a sudden sensation of light. The miracle is more and more inevitable - and this is the "basic mechanism of Christmas." People feel this and celebrate, not even believing, but feeling the need to believe, and they are like shepherds who kindled bonfires in the night.
   • The image of a winter night and tense anticipation continues in the next stanza: snow is falling, chimneys are smoking, people do not understand who is coming and are afraid not to recognize him.
   • In the final stanza, an obscure figure in a headscarf appears on the threshold (we can assume here an association with the Mother of God) - and a person feels the Holy Spirit in himself. Then he looks up into the sky and sees a star that appears.
   • This poem can be difficult to memorize in order since the stanzas are not chronologically related. However, try to build an associative array that unites them, and it will be easier for you to learn: at Christmas everyone becomes magi → shopping, stampede in the store, and behind the chaos you cannot see the path to Bethlehem → but the “magi” return with gifts, even knowing that in the cave while there is no one → the thought of emptiness evokes the thought of a miracle → a miracle is the essence of Christmas, and people celebrate it without even realizing it → winter, snow falls, a feeling of anxious expectation grows → a person comes to the feeling of God in himself and sees a star.
5. 5 Understand with what meter the poem is written. Meter is the rhythm of a poetic line, its structure, characterized by the number of syllables and stress. The most common is iambic. This is a two-syllable meter - the first syllable is unstressed (weak), the second is stressed (strong).The rhythm sounds like ta-TA, for example, "my Uncle of the HONEST RULES."
   • Other poetic meters widespread in Russian poetry are the two-syllable trochee (TA-ta; "The storm of the dark sky is crying") and three-syllable dactyl (TA-ta-ta; "Heavenly clouds, Eternal Wanderers"), amphibrachies (ta-TA-ta; "Vether does not rage over Bor") and anapest (ta-ta-TA; "ShagaNE you are mine, ShagaNE").
   • Many poems in Russian are written in iambic, while the size may vary due to the different number of feet, that is, repetitions of a combination of strong and weak syllables. This is also an important characteristic of the poem to pay attention to.
   • A line of poetry is usually limited in size. For example, a size called iambic pentameter means that the string has the pattern ta-TA-ta-TA-ta-TA-ta-TA-ta-TA, that is, the iambic foot is repeated five times. An example of such a size is the line “Will your features be compared with a SUMMER DAY” (Shakespeare's 18th sonnet, translated by S. Ya. Marshak).
   • Iambic tricycle means three iambic feet in each row, four-foot - four, six-foot - six. It is extremely rare for you to see a line longer than seven stops.
   • Find stressed syllables and count the number of feet in each line, thereby determining the size of the poem. This will help you memorize his rhythm.
   • For example, you will immediately hear the difference between iambic tetrameter “Frost and sun; wonderful day! .. "A. Pushkin and a three-foot anapest" At the dawn, you do not wake her ... "A. A. Fet.
   • As in the beginning, read the poem aloud several times, but now pay special attention to its musicality and rhythm. Read it until the melody of the poem, including its meter, is as close and predictable to you as the melody of your favorite song.
6. 6 Memorize the structure of the poem. A metric poem has a specific meter, stanza length, and a combination of rhymed lines. By now you already know the meter, so you need to understand the rhythm pattern and the number of lines in each stanza. There are solid poetic forms that obey certain rules - for example, sonnets, sextines, or rondos. See if the poem you are learning belongs to one of these forms, or if its structure was invented by the poet himself.
   • You can read on the Internet about what solid poetic forms are and how to distinguish them.
   • Having memorized the structure of the poem, you will be more likely to remember what's next if you suddenly stumble while reading by heart.
   • For example, if you are reading by heart "Lonely sail" by M. Yu. Lermontov and suddenly get lost, you may remember that the first line of each stanza rhymes with the third, and the second - with the fourth.
   • For example, in the last stanza, the first line ends in azure and the second in gold; hence, the end of the third will rhyme with "azure" ("storm"), and the fourth - with "golden" ("peace").
   • You can also draw on the rhythm of the poem to remember a forgotten line. Even if it is difficult for you to distinguish iambic from chorea, just memorize the melody (as in a song, if you hum it without words): "Ta-TA, ta-TA-ta, ta-ta-TA-ta."
7. 7 Read the poem aloud several more times. Now you read it much more consciously than at first, because you understand the theme of the poem, its meaning, rhythm, melody and structure.
   • Read the poem slowly and emphatically. Use all the new knowledge you learn to improve your reading experience. The more understanding and emotion you put into recitation, the better the poem will stick in your memory.
   • When the lines of the poem begin to pop up in memory, read more and more by heart and look less and less into the text.
   • Don't be afraid, however, to pry into the book if you need to. Rely on the text for as long as you need it.
   • Keep reading the poem aloud over and over again, and you will see more and more lines come to mind on their own.
   • Gradually, you will effortlessly move from reading from a book to reading by heart.
   • When you have been able to read the entire poem by heart, repeat it at least five to six times in order to consolidate in memory and read without hesitation.

Method 2 of 2: Free verse poem

1. 1 Be prepared that the free verse is more difficult to remember than the metric one. Free verse, or free verse, became popular in the early twentieth century, when some avant-garde poets (for example, Ezra Pound) announced that the rhyme, poetic meter and division into stanzas, which dominated poetry throughout its history, were invented artificially and not in able to reflect truth and reality. As a result, poetry of the last century often lacks rhyme, rhythm or stanza length, and such verses are much more difficult to remember. It should be noted, however, that vers libre has spread much more widely in the West than in Russia, so you are unlikely to have to learn it by heart if you do not study foreign literature in depth.
   • Even if you have always successfully learned poetry by heart, do not expect that free poetry will be easy for you.
   • Get ready to put in more effort.
   • If you have a choice of which poem to learn for the lesson, and there is little time, then choose the traditional form, not free verse.
2. 2 Read the poem aloud several times. To begin with, you need, as in the case of metric verses, to feel the rhythm. Although free poetry does not have formal properties that would make them easier to remember, but, as noted by TS Eliot, "the author of free verse is free in everything, except for the need to create good poetry." He meant that in any language, even in an ordinary spoken language, one can reveal the metric rhythm and the patterns embedded in it at the unconscious level, and a good poet will make a string musical even without observing a rigid structure. According to him, you cannot imagine a line that does not sound like a verse.
   • When you read a poem out loud, try to catch the poet's intonation. Did he use a lot of commas that slowed down the pace of the poem, or let the words flow in a continuous stream?
   • Vers libre tries to convey the natural rhythm of speech as much as possible, so the poem will probably resemble an iambic meter, which is closest to the natural sounding of Russian, as well as English. Does this apply to the poem you are learning?
   • Or is the rhythm of the poem unexpectedly different from the iambic? For example, among English-speaking poets, James Dickey is known for the lines of the tricycle anapest, scattered throughout his free verses. A similar interweaving of sizes can be found in A. A. Blok's works - “SHE came from the frost / Blushed”.
   • Read the poem aloud over and over again until you feel the voice of the poet and absorb the musical rhythm.
3. 3 Find words and references that you don't understand. Since free poetry is a relatively young genre of poetry, it is unlikely that archaisms will fall into them. Some poets writing in this genre deliberately sought to approach the usual colloquial speech, and not to the refined poetry. According to William Wadsworth, one of the notable predecessors of free versification, a poet is simply a person talking to people. However, poets push the boundaries of language and therefore sometimes resort to rather rare words for artistic purposes. Use a dictionary.
   • There are also many allusions in avant-garde and contemporary poetry, so pay attention to incomprehensible references. Classical references to Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythology, as well as the Bible, are very common. Study them to understand the deep meaning of strings.
   • For example, TS Eliot's poem "The Waste Land" is so full of allusions that it is almost impossible to understand without notes (and even with notes it is difficult!).
   • Again, your goal is to understand the poem before you memorize it. The understandable is easier to remember.
4. 4 Find memorable moments in the poem. Since the rhythm or rhyme will not be able to serve you as a clue, you need to choose key points in the poem on which you will rely. Find moments that you like or surprise you. Let there be several of them throughout the entire work, so that it will be divided into fragments, in each of which you will have a special, memorable line or phrase. Even if the poem is not divided into stanzas, you can choose one striking image or phrase for every four lines or for each sentence, regardless of how many lines it takes.
   • As an example, let us return to the aforementioned "She came from the cold ..." by A. A. Blok. Let's list in order the memorable images in this poem.
   • She came from the cold; the scent of air and perfume; chatter; a thick volume of an art magazine; there is very little space in my large room; rather ridiculous; she wanted me to read Macbeth aloud to her; to the bubbles of the earth; looks out the window attentively; big motley cat; kissing pigeons; angry; gone are the days of Paolo and Francesca.
   • Notice how each of these phrases or phrases is well remembered and at the same time indicates the point of development of events in the poem.
   • By memorizing these key phrases before trying to memorize the entire poem, you will outline some kind of milestones that will help you in the future if you get lost.
   • Memorize phrases verbatim and exactly in the order in which they appear in the text. You will have a succinct summary of the poem that will come in handy in the next step.
5. 5 Build key phrases into the summary of the poem. As with the metric poem, you must fully understand the content and meaning before trying to memorize it. Then, when you reach a familiar phrase while reading, you should remember what follows after it. Focus on embedding the “milestones” from the previous step into the summary of the poem: you should be able to retell it in your own words, based on them.
   • If the poem is narrative, try presenting it as a piece to remember the sequence of events. For example, in "Home Funeral" by Robert Frost, there is such a clear narration, mise-en-scène and dialogues that this poem was actually staged on stage. However, for the rest it is difficult to learn, although it is written not in free verse, but in blank verse - unrhymed iambic pentameter.
6. 6 Read the poem aloud several more times. At this point, you should already start memorizing it thanks to the list of key phrases and a summary. Continue reading the poem aloud, and with each subsequent reading, try to go from one "milestone" to another without looking at the book.
   • Don't be upset if your reading isn't perfect the first time. If you are upset, relax and take a break for five minutes to let your brain rest.
   • Remember to use your milestones and summaries to memorize each line of the poem in order.