Songs to help memorize poetry will bless your homeschoolers!
Your students can learn poetry with this freebie download! It contains links to entertaining, inspirational videos that are illustrated classic poems put to song.
In the old days, children (from elementary through high school) would memorize poetry at school. There were several reasons for this:
- Poetry memorization helps young people strengthen their mental stamina
- Poetry memorization helps build vocabulary and word usage skills
- Poetry memorization helps pass on cultural values and ideas
- Poetry memorization helps build knowledge and understanding of literature
So many people grew up memorizing poetry back in the old days, that they could drop poetry lines in conversation to add meaning and depth to what they were trying to say. Have you ever read any of the delightfully fun Jeeves and Wooster novels by P.G. Wodehouse?
The main character, Bertie Wooster, was a truly airheaded 1920s British gentleman but was so steeped in poetry memorization that famous lines were sprinkled throughout his conversation. He wasn’t capable of being *snooty*, poetry memorization was simply a way of life. (If you and your teens haven’t ever had the fun of reading Jeeves and Wooster novel, try Right Ho, Jeeves and do our literature study guide to accompany the book. You will both LOVE it!)
One of our homeschool high schoolers’ favorite memories is our field trip (with our co-op) to the Statue of Liberty. They had worked together to memorize The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus (the poem etched on the Statue of Liberty).
There is something intensely profound for our teens about capturing in their own voices, the essence of our nation’s character while they were standing at the foot of one of the most important symbols for our nation.
This memory helped guide homeschool graduate and now a middle school teacher, Ezra Tillman, to create poetry memorization tools for his students. Ezra created illustrated videos with selected poems set to music. (Music is an excellent memorization tool.) His students love these videos!
Ezra has shared these poetry videos on YouTube so your homeschoolers can memorize classic poetry as well. Currently there are over a dozen illustrated poems set to music with more on the way. You can watch them by clicking the links here or download our freebie pdf with all the links embedded.
Inspiring Aids for Teaching Poetry: Links to YouTube videos and aids that help students memorize or learn about favorite poems.Poem Memorization Songs
- 1. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (Memorization Song)
- 2. O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman (Memorization Song)
- 3. No Man Is an Island by John Donne (Memorization Song)
- 4. New Colossus by Emma Lazarus (Statue of Liberty Poem Memorization Song)
- 5. The Wind by Robert Louis Stevenson (Memorization Song)
- 6. New Colossus – Statue of Liberty Poem (Memorization Song)
- 7. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth (Memorization Song)
- 8. Ozymandias by Percy Shelley (Poem Memorization Song)
- 9. “Hope” is the thing with feathers – by Emily Dickinson (Memorization Song)
- 10. Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare (Memorization Song)
- 11. A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Memorization Song)
- 12. An Hymn to the Evening by Phillis Wheatley
- 13. If by Rudyard Kipling
- 14. On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer – by John Keats
- 15.Pippa’s Song by Robert Browning
- 16. Destruction of Sennacherib – by Lord Byron
- 17. The Ecchoing Green by William Blake
- 18. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening – Robert Frost
- 19. Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson
Poem Memorization Songs Playlist
Also, for teens who get excited and want a full year/full credit of poetry, here’s a syllabus for a poetry credit to walk them through the process.
Preview YouTube video I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth (Memorization Song)
Preview YouTube video Ozymandias by Percy Shelley (Poem Memorization Song)
Preview YouTube video “Hope” is the thing with feathers – by Emily Dickinson (Memorization Song)
Preview YouTube video Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare (Memorization Song)
Preview YouTube video A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Memorization Song)
Preview YouTube video An Hymn to the Evening by Phillis Wheatley (Memorization Song)
Preview YouTube video IF — by Rudyard Kipling (Memorization Song)
Preview YouTube video On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer – by John Keats (Memorization Song)
Preview YouTube video Pippa’s Song by Robert Browning (Memorization Song)
Preview YouTube video Destruction of Sennacherib – by Lord Byron (Memorization Song)
Preview YouTube video The Ecchoing Green by William Blake (Memorization Song)
Preview YouTube video Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening – Robert Frost (Memorization Song)
Preview YouTube video Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson (Memorization Song)