Friday, July 24, 2009
À propos the previous post, it's an interesting thought that children of around that age have no pre-conceived ideas about poetry, because they don't know any. Unlike previous generations of British schoolchildren who were made to memorize poems, and introduced to classics early on (I remember learning Jonson's 'drink to me only' aged 8), by the age of 12 most children have read virtually no poetry - so if you're asked to produce a sonnet, why not cobble it together from snatches of proverbs, song titles (that's another one she did) or whatever, rather than imitating a classic sonnet, which is what schoolchildren from another era may have done
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4 comments:
I think we massively underestimate the value of memorising and similar learning strategies. For example, in Beethoven's day, a musician learnt a lot from copying out music by established composers. It is hard to imagine people today being asked to do this.
Dominic - I only question one word of what you've written - value. It's obvious to me you would have been indisputably right had you written"think we massively underestimate the **effect** of memorising and similar learning strategies." It's not so obvious since you use the word value. It's not that I think you're wrong. It's just that I wonder what you think that *value* might be. Does *value* imply that we'd be better off somehow if we still memorized, etc?
In any case, kids Eloise's age have memorized countless lyrics, and that must have an effect on their sense of rhythm, melody, sound combinations, etc. ...
Just wondering what you think ...
cheers,
John
I agree with Dominic that there is 'value' in memorizing: first, the human memory seems capable of incredible feats, evident in non-literate cultures, and which we literate humans could probably regain to some extent if we tried; second, I do memorize poems - recently the whole of The Ancient Mariner - and I think you learn a lot about a poem by doing that. Certainly, you percieve the poem as a whole in a way that seems different to the way you perceive it by reading it. Which is not to say all poems are meant to be, or should be, memorized; it's just that it's another way of experiencing poetry.
Alan, I wasn't trying to argue **against** there being value in memorising, I was just wondering what Dominic thought the value "we massively underestimate" might be. You came up with a couple values I have no argument with; I just suspect (I think it's the "we massively underestimate" that made me "suspicious") that Dominic had something more crucial in mind. My suspicion might be wrong, of course. Wouldn't be the 1st time!
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