You may wonder why it is beneficial to memorize a poem, other than you can impress your friends when you spout off "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" at a dinner party. Memorizing is an important task for helping your brain to remember things. This type of task exercises your brain, strengthening it to remember more information. Memorizing passages over time is a more effective way to make your brain receptive to learning. I'm sure we all remember cramming the night before an exam, maybe we remembered a little bit, but chances are if we had reviewed the material over the course of the semester, we would have retained more.
Memory-forming can be a healthy, lifelong habit. Research has shown that adults who went through short burst of memory training were better able to maintain higher level cognitive functioning and everyday skills, even five years after the training. If you want to memorize a poem, it will help if you pick one one that speaks to you. I saw the movie "Invictus" and afterward googled the poem of the same title. I decided to memorize it and it came quite easily, probably because I enjoyed the film so much. Since I live in Vermont I thought I would try Robert Frost next. When I read "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", I was surprised how it spoke to me. Now when I drive by the trail that is named after Frost, I can recall one of his poems in it's entirety and it will make the drive much sweeter.
My next challenge will be to learn Shakespeare's most famous sonnet. The language is not what we are used but being a southern girl, how could I not love the line, "And summer's lease hath all too short a date?" In a group of participants aged 55-70, researchers noted that repeated activation of memory structures promotes the neuronal plasticity in their brains. Whatever the case for memorization, sometimes taking a break from all that goes on in our lives and reciting a poem for the fun of it, can change our outlook and uplift our spirits.
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