A summer "poetry" salon?

In the 17th to the early 20th centuries "salons" were a periodic gathering of people, usually of social or intellectual distinction who met together to exchange ideas of a literary, artistic, or political nature. I have often thought that it would be fun to hold a salon in my living room to share poems we have learned by heart and talk about how they have enriched our lives. The more I share my love of memorizing poetry with someone, the more I find that that acquaintance can dig up the lines of a poem they learned as a young person. One friend told me that her dad had her memorize poems with him when she was a child and she can still recall them. It must be a bittersweet memory for her as her father is no longer around, but what a sweet memory to associate with him.

To learn a poem by heart, instead of just as rote memorization, means that you really understand the poem. To quote the American poet, John Hollander, "We speak of memorizing as getting something 'by heart,' which really means 'by head.' But getting a poem or prose passage 'by heart' implies getting it by mind and memory and understanding and delight." I imagine that when my friend remembers the poems she learned as a child, she also remembers her father with understanding and delight.