I’ve written before about the lost art of memorization—particularly of poetry—and a theory that it once provided artists with a rich wellspring of inspiration. For example, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and probably most Florentine artists could quote Dante at length.

Today, the closest equivalent might be quoting pop lyrics—the only “verse” most people still have by heart. I often hear essayists, ministers, and authors use song lyrics to illuminate a point (“you know, when you feel like that Rolling Stones song ‘Get Off of My Cloud’”). But really, aren’t we drinking from a rather shallow well here?

Now comes a book that examines the historical role of memorized poetry in education: Heart Beats: Everyday Life and the Memorized Poem. According to reviews (I haven’t read it yet), the book explores the uses and theories behind memorization. It sounds more like an academic survey and thoughtful history than one of those “how memorizing poetry can make you great” books.

Some quotes from various reviews:

The best argument for verse memorization may be that it provides us with knowledge of a qualitatively and physiologically different variety: you take the poem inside you—into your brain chemistry if not your blood—and you know it at a deeper, bodily level than if you simply read it off a screen. Robson puts the point succinctly: “If we do not learn by heart, the heart does not feel the rhythms of poetry as echoes or variations of its own insistent beat.”

She also quotes Percival Chubb, an American educator, who wrote in a frequently reprinted book on teaching English in elementary schools that although memory and recitation are useful in “confirming the child in correct ways of speaking,” their greatest value lies in “storing the mind with the priceless treasure of the noblest thoughts and feelings that have been uttered by the race.” These early impressions and memories, he said, “impart a tone to one’s spiritual system for life, rich and pure enough to outsing all base and cruder songs and to set the pitch of character.”