Taken from: Poetry Memorization: Methods and Resources,

by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer

Memorization builds into children’s minds an ability to understand and use complex English syntax. The student who memorizes poetry will internalize rhythmic, beautiful patterns of English language. These patterns have become part of the student’s “language store,” those wells of language that we all use every day in writing and speaking. Without memorization, the student’s “language store” will contain only those phrases and patterns which he hears over and over again — the language patterns that your family uses every day. But memorization “stocks” the language store with a whole new set of language patterns.

Recitation — learning to speak memorized pieces out loud, with fluency and expression — helps to “set” memorized pieces in the student’s memory. The student who memorizes poetry will internalize rhythmic, beautiful patterns of English language. These patterns have become part of the student’s “language store,” those wells of language that we all use every day in writing and speaking.