In Living Memory: The Dying Art of Learning Poetry and a Case for Revival

Abstract

This article considers the practice of learning poems and the value of poetry in the memory, and emerges from the Cambridge Poetry Teaching Project, a small-scale research study co-ordinated through the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge. Drawing on the subset of findings in relation to learning and memory, the essay locates the practice within broader cultural and educational contexts and examines it in relation to some theories of memory and cognition, especially the work of Iain McGilchrist on the divided brain, and to personal experience. The article argues that there is a largely forgotten value in learning poetry and posits five ways in which it may contribute both to our experience and understanding of the poem and to our engagement with the world. Finally, the author considers the learning process itself and suggests a strategy in accordance with the proposed theorisation.