ABSTRACT

The practice of memorising poems has commonly been perceived as outdated in recent years. By the 1980s, indeed, learning poems by heart frequently headed up a list of old-fashioned pedagogies deemed responsible for turning young people off poetry. Yet it would be hard to overestimate how enormous a gap this opened up with the core assumptions that had guided the teaching of literature for hundreds (perhaps even thousands) of years before. This article re-examines some of the assumptions that led to the wide-scale rejection of this ancient practice. This is not necessarily to urge a wholesale restitution of poetry memorisation and recitation in our secondary schools. Rather, in revisiting arguments for the value of the memorised poem, we hope to shed fresh light on the degree and form of its continued relevance for contemporary contexts and educational practices.

摘要

近年来，人们普遍认为背诗的做法已经过时。确实，到了 1980 年代，背诵诗歌经常成为一个老式教学法清单的首位，这些教学法被认为是导致年轻人对诗歌失去兴趣的原因。然而，很难高估这与数百年前（甚至数千年）指导文学教学的核心假设之间的巨大差距。本文重新审视了导致这种古老做法被广泛拒绝的一些假设。这不一定是要敦促我们中学全面恢复诗歌背诵和朗诵。相反，在重新审视背诵诗歌价值的论点时，