{"id":268,"date":"2012-10-04T14:04:54","date_gmt":"2012-10-04T13:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nowyouknowabout.com\/blog\/?p=268"},"modified":"2015-05-16T12:42:43","modified_gmt":"2015-05-16T12:42:43","slug":"learning-a-poem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nowyouknowabout.com\/?p=268","title":{"rendered":"Learning a poem"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"poem\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Why learn a poem?<\/p>\n

1) Good workout for the brain cells<\/p>\n

2) Handy to have in your head if you are ever taken hostage or trapped in a lift or down a well<\/p>\n

3) Poems often have useful life tips or clever ways of looking at things<\/p>\n

4) Can cheer you up when you don’t have your ipod, a book or anyone to chat to<\/p>\n

NB I cannot think of a SINGLE situation when quoting poetry (however tempted you are to show off) is cool.\u00a0 It’s just for personal use.\u00a0 Actually, on second thoughts, Churchill got away with it (“Say not the struggle naught availeth” by Arthur Clough, quoted 1941)<\/p>\n

How to learn poetry?\u00a0 As a teacher, I learned that people learn in different ways; some by writing it down; some by reading it out aloud; others by making visual patterns of the words in their head.<\/p>\n

My 12-year-old son has to learn a poem every week.\u00a0 Now he’s pretty quick (his memory muscles are like a six-pack).\u00a0 His fast way is to listen to it with earphones – over and over again until the rhthym and the sounds seep into his head.\u00a0 Try it and see how fast it is.<\/p>\n

If you ever think how many junk lyrics you’ve retained over the years (“At first I was afraid, I was petrified, kept thinking I could never live without you by my side” etc) you’ll quickly see just how easy it it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why learn a poem? 1) Good workout for the brain cells 2) Handy to have in your head if you are ever taken hostage or trapped in a lift or down a well 3) Poems…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n