Poems by heart help develop 'cultural ear', says Heaney
The Nobel prize winner Seamus Heaney has added his voice to those who argue that pupils should once more learn poetry by heart, saying that it would develop their “cultural ear” at an early age. Speaking at the Oxford literary festival at the weekend, Heaney was asked about plans to "force" children to learn poems by heart at school. He said: "I believe in people learning poetry by heart, definitely. It's the beginning of a cultural ear. Without it, it's difficult. In the United States, in poetry workshops, it's now quite a thing to make graduate students learn poems by heart. My only problem with that is that it should have started far earlier. The ear cannot really pick it up [later in life]."
Earlier this year a national poetry recitation competition for secondary school pupils was launched by the education secretary, Michael Gove, and the former poet laureate, Sir Andrew Motion.
Heaney added that poetry learned by heart would go on to have an important role for readers in times of crisis, providing comfort and a means to "stand up" to difficulties.
M.C. Newberry
Sun 7th Apr 2013 16:40
From nursery rhymes on, kids love the rhythm and rhyme still found in poetry. As they grow older, they can be introduced to more relaxed forms that may exercise the memory. It follows that having been exposed to the variety, youngsters might feel able, indeed keen, to write their own stuff. Mr Heaney is right in his stated belief that the younger the better when it comes to learning (almost anything for that matter!). As for Lord Derby's yawning(!) - check Youtube for the variety of uploads of, and hits on, this venerable old music hall song. It should teach us something about staying around and being remembered/enjoyed. I agree with JC about getting stuff into schools and will be offering free volumes of my own collection of verse/lyrics to a local school for its use. They can only say no.