Years ago I used to have a really boring job, in retail. To occupy my mind, I would memorise Rilke’s poems for hours, whilst tidying. (I had printed poems in my pocket). Always saved my day. 😁

“Good art is what rings true to you when you remove all the bullsh*t.” Love that

I love how you phrase it “possess” a poem. Like, love it so much it’s stored away in your heart and mind. I used to hate poetry, and I only very recently have I gotten into it. The first poem I ever fell in love with I memorized, I had the urge to memorize it on my own. And for Christmas, I’m trying to memorize a GK Chesterton poem. One day, I wish to have a sizable selection of poems I love, that I can recite from heart.

Well you have encourged and inspired me. Half way through memorising Ulysees. Memorised Emily Dickinson "Because I could not Stop for Death". Two days and maybe three hours effort so far. Not that difficult and totally worth it. The poems come to life even more. I am going to try and memorise a poem a week. I cycle a lot so I can stick it to my handlebars as I ride. Thank you so much for this prompt to finally do this.

You've encouraged me to take this on in earnest, as you've helped me understand how valuable it can be to my interior life. Year ago I memorized a few stanzas of Wallace Stevens, mostly from Sunday Morning (of course!) The music of the poetry appealed to me ahead of the sense of it, but I knew it was more comprehensible than many of his others.

Thanks to the algorithm of KZfaq I have come across this extraordinary lecture. I’ve only recently discovered poetry for myself, especially in English language as it isn’t my first. So I shall follow your wonderful advice and apply it to Shakespeare’s sonnets and Tennyson’s “in Memoriam” , some poems from Yeats that do something with me although I don’t understand them completely. Intriguing and enticing feeling guides me to choose what I shall spend my limited time on. And my great friend Arthur L Wood whose readings of poetry (f.e. Ulysses) and his own works are available on KZfaq as well under the label of Poetry from the Shires. He’s a younger, more contemporary voice than the giants of the 20th century you’ve mentioned. Dear Mr McEvoy, it’s a great pleasure to listen to your passionate teaching, thank you for doing this. I feel also a sudden wish to listen to Dave Brubeck, and don’t know why. 😉

I totally agree with you, also it's helpful to enrich your speech moreover when you possess poems that make you feel like wisdom or great people.

One of my favourite poems is Keats' 'On the grasshopper and cricket'. Memorising it didn't require much concerted effort - it's just such a pleasurable poem. Anthony Hopkins famously memorises a poem a week. "Great art is what rings true to you when you remove all the BS" - indeed! But I sometimes wonder if the entry to certain poetry (like Modernist / highly allusive ones) is too narrow for most people to even begin to appreciate it. I find it a shame that students give up on poetry (or Shakespeare) because they're put off by a word or two they don't understand. Enjoying lit is a much more holistic, visceral experience. Thanks for the video, Ben!

Maybe I'm a bit strange, but honestly think symphonic metal music goes well with Shakespeare!

I’ve been mulling over what you’ve said about Shakespeare and poems in general. How you can not understand something at first, and later in life you remember it and it just clicks. You sort off discover the meaning through life experience almost.

I read Othello when I was 14 years old. I learned the power of jealousy, I was horrified at what it did to a man. I found out the meaning of destruction, the dehumanizing power…how natural jealousy must be to affect a 14 year old girl (in 1963) so profoundly. I heard Iago whisper & I was terrified.

In addition to Shakespeare, I find that Yeats is quite pleasurable to recite.

The only poem I possess by memory is Blake’s Tyger 😬 This video has prompted me to try a longer one. Thanks, and great reading!

How wonderful. I'm starting with "the Eagle" by tennyson and then sonnet 116 by shakespeare. Cheers

In theatre, one way to memorize a poem or text is to act out or overact the words, then bring it down to your deep mind. It seems silly and I am sure I look silly, pretending, for instance that I am wearing un corset velu des mouches eclatantes from Rimbaud's "Voyelles", but I find I can much easier memorize when I do this. Also ,as you said, engage all the senses possible-some of us are visual learners, others are auditory, and some are hands-on learners. I am possessing The Crunch by Charles Bukowski and Voyelles by Rimbaud at the moment.

I highly recommend Arabic poetry to you, it's worth reading.

You sound like Ian McClellan when he does Shakespeare! Have you ever performed the Bard? You might want to consider it! Some BookTubers have been done Poetry Thursdays. They read and talk about a poem they choose, but this is different. I don’t have any poems memorized. I’m even terrible at song lyrics. Would love this kind of help to learn a poem, or part of one, a week. Thanks.

Love After Love by Derek Walcott.

I felt like you love Spiritual poetry a lot..so would you look into Meerabai's poems? She is a medieval Indian mystic poet. She combines the notion of Spiritual liberation with the romantic and sensual idea of making love...I really would love to listen your opinions on her Bhajans..

This lecture calls to mind the Bards of antiquity who memorized the EPICS!!

Emily Dickenson poems can be sung to The Yellow Rose of Texas

I hated having to memorize Julius Caesar in 10th grade. I hated the evil of his greed and narcissism. But even worse, were his friends who turned on him! Who does one trust? But now, 60, 70, 80 yrs later, I see the back stabing, obsession with powef in modern politics, personal relationships, and corporate power struggles, dog-eat-dog world. WS was brilliant in his observations of human behavior.

Something super irrevelant... You kinda look like Harry Styles