When learning something “by heart,” do you really learn it by heart or by head? I learned my multiplication tables in third grade by heart, but there was nothing of heart value associated with it. This knowledge, ingrained through the act of memorization, has practical value.
Conversely, the first poem I remember learning by heart was Psalm 23. I can still recite it and find comfort in it when I struggle. Yes, I committed the words to memory when I was three or so, but I committed more to my heart with those verses. I am comfortable walking through the “valley of the shadow of death” because I know my God walks with me. I committed it to my memory, my heart, and my soul. Fifty years later, it serves me well.
Poet and professor John Hollander says that learning a poem by heart “implies getting it by mind and memory and understanding and delight.”1 Yes to all of these, but I would add another implication that comes from learning poetry “by heart.” When the poem presented for memorization is chosen because of its transcendent value–that of truth, goodness, and/or beauty–the poem has heart value and pays dividends by nurturing the soul.
Take for example Robert Frost’s two diverging roads. On the surface, the speaker of Frost’s poem has to make a decision that has eternal consequences, for he can make the decision only once. Does he choose the road that is the most manicured and easiest to travel? No. Why doesn’t he? He doesn’t say other than that decision “has made all the difference.” Man also makes an eternal decision between two gates, one narrow and one wide. Which choice would I make? Well, it is the one that will make all the difference.
-Dr. Julie Rucker, Academic Dean
- Hollander, J. (Ed.). (1996). Committed to ↩︎
Providence School of Tifton 