Do your children learn poetry by heart in school?

[OlliEliza]

I wasn’t raised in the UK, and as part of the school curriculum we had to learn poems by heart, which I think was great for memory and also helped us appreciate poetry more. I can still remember some of the poems I learnt over 20 years ago.

It was a bit daunting for some children — you’d have to stand in front of the class and recite the whole poem from memory.

I’ve done a bit of Googling and it seems that learning and reciting poetry was dropped from the UK curriculum in 1944, but then reintroduced in 2012. Is that right?

Do primary and secondary school children still learn and recite poems as part of their homework or schoolwork? What do you think about it?

My kids needed to memorise poems for GCSE; think it was lit paper 2, but don't think they've really had to learn any to recite at any time. I learnt a few in primary school I still recall, even some my sister had to learn that I picked up by just hearing her learn them . The lesson by Roger McGough was very memorable

I don't think those dates are right because I wasn't born in 1944 and I left school in 1995 and I definitely had to learn poems. I can still recite Fern Hill, The Charge of the Light Brigade and Time does not bring relief; you all have lied (Sonnet II) by heart. And two of those are quite long, so I am impressed that they have stuck!

Yes, every year for the Burns competition, each year group learns and recites a different poem and the best in every year is chosen to go to the regional competition. It's been going since before I was a child and still is.

Also my ds has just sat Nat5 English and I'm pretty sure he had to learn poems for that too.

I love learning poetry by heart and think schools should do much more of it- why wouldn't you want to furnish your mind with beauty?

We learned quite a lot of Shakespeare by heart at school in the 80s/90s.

sadly not in our kids london primary, I did and can still remember some 40 years later.

Me too! That's so sad that children won't be able to recite the poem from school. What they're doing now is to hand out tablets and gamify all the studying.

What poems do you learn by heart, by the way? I'd like to renew this habit as well

Mine had to, and for various poetry competitions. They loved doing this! I had to at school for declamations and also for handwriting practice!

My son had to last year in year 2 for a poetry topic. The learn 1 as a class (Michael Rosen don’t!) and had to learn one at home for their home project book and recite it to the class. He did now I am 6 by a a Milne. State infant school north west

Yes, ours do for National Poetry Day. In Reception/KS1, they learn a poem which they perform as a group but in Year 3, they do individual performances and the best few in each year group go to a special assembly with their parents.

I'm learning Frost at Midnight at the moment but it is taking me a long time- definitely a slower process as I get older. Just learning a few lines a day.

Last one before this was Snow by Louis MacNeice.

On my list to learn- Grandmother in the Garden by Louise Gluck, Departure Gate (Sharon Olds), Ode to a Nightingale.

I teach English in an independent school and we have a focus on Poetry by Heart every year. Every child performs in class and then winners go through rounds of a competition and the best perform as part of an evening music and drama event. One of the best things we do.

My post is about secondary English.

@OlliEliza if your DC aren't required to learn poetry by heart at school, and this makes you sad, is there anything preventing from you instigating a regular poetry learning session at home with them? Perhaps start with some of the poems that you remember fom two decades back? (Although I'd be tempted to have a copy of the poems to hand as well; I can remember some of the stuff that I learned by heart - a lot longer ago than that , admittedly - but I wouldn't be at all surprised to discover that some of it turned out to be an 'edited' version!).

Poetry recitation for the English Speaking Board (ESB) exams, along with oral presentations of a prepared text on a 'special object', and a reading aloud assessment. Prep school in the Midlands. Even if your child's school does not offer the ESB, you could prepare for it and enter them into the exams yourself (https://esbuk.org/).

LAMBDA is also extremely popular (https://www.lamda.ac.uk/lamda-exams)