Have you ever been surprised to hear an elderly relative suddenly spout forth a stream of perfectly-remembered verse? At times of particular emotional import, such as family births, illnesses and deaths, even those family members who left school after a fairly rudimentary education might be known to recite a poem with little prompting. And though such verse might have been memorised by our ancestors under duress, it’s pleasing to imagine that it could well have provided them (and their families) with solace, fortitude and even joy at certain times in their lives.

Children in the past were regularly asked to memorise poetry at school and often physically punished if they were not word perfect (corporal punishment was not outlawed in British schools until as late as 1986). Poetry was a popular medium of instruction because – especially in cash-strapped areas with badly-stocked local and school libraries – it was one easy means by which a whole group might focus its attention on the same subject matter. From the teacher’s point of view, recitation could be used as a form of discipline or crowd control, helping to keep large classes in small classrooms in order. Recitation as an exercise also helped to mask the inadequacies of teachers who were often poorly trained or very young themselves.

Poems, moreover, were versatile tools in the classrooms of our ancestors. First and foremost, they could be used as propaganda, to inform pupils of Britain’s great imperial and naval achievements while simultaneously reminding them of the nation’s long vernacular literary heritage. In the hands of a skilled educator poems could further be employed as literacy practice, to teach correct pronunciation or elocution, to explain the meaning of new words, as fodder for discussion, as material for semantic or grammatical analysis, or as a general exercise for the memory. And poetry in the classroom significantly had another higher purpose – to inculcate lofty moral sentiments such as valour, compassion or humility. The capability of reciting poetry, it was commonly thought, would make the child a better person.

Nineteenth century
In 1861-2 the Revised Code created six graded standards within Britain’s (as yet non-compulsory) elementary schools. The code (with its subsequent revisions) brought in financial penalties for schools where pupils could not demonstrate the required standards of learning to visiting inspectors. In 1870, the Elementary Education Act (Forster’s Act) introduced compulsory state-sponsored education across England and Wales for children between the ages of 5 and 12 (with a few exceptions). At the same time new rules were laid down about the learning of poetry in schools with each standard (from 4 onwards) being required to learn a certain number of lines by heart. Standards were not the same as year groups and children could be made to repeat a standard if they underperformed.

• Standard 4 (roughly aged 8): 200 lines
• Standard 5: 250 lines
• Standard 6: 300 lines.

Fortunately perhaps for our ancestors, these requirements proved overly ambitious and in 1875 they were duly modified, with fewer lines now having to be learnt (providing that they were of a certain optimum length). In 1882, however, the trend went the other way: poetry recitation became a requirement for even the very youngest children. Crucially, from this point until the end of the century a school would benefit financially if its students were able to recite correctly. Every student who merited ‘Fair’ for a recitation would earn the school a shilling. Every student who merited ‘Good’ would earn the school two shillings. The pressure for our ancestors was now on:

• Standard 1: 20 lines of simple verse.
• Standard 2: 40 lines of poetry (and to know their meanings).
• Standard 3: 60 lines of poetry (recited with intelligence and expression and to know their meanings).
• Standard 4: 80 lines of poetry (and to explain the words and allusions).
• Standard 5: 100 lines of poetry (and to explain the words and allusions).
• Standard 6: 150 lines from Shakespeare or Milton or some other standard author (and to explain the words and allusions).
• Standard 7: The same as Standard 6.

Twentieth century
From 1900, our ancestors were no longer expected to learn poetry in order to attract funding to their schools, and between 1900 to 1905, the numbers of lines to be learned in poems was no longer specified. Thenceforward, recitation in schools was still encouraged but not demanded. Drilling gradually dropped away as a pedagogical method with teachers and pupils alike recognising that poetry lessons – where the poetry was simply to be memorised – were invariably the dullest part of the school day. The well-known poems of the past were slowly rejected as inappropriate for, and often irrelevant to, young children. Nevertheless, as many elderly people today will still testify, the rote learning of poetry continued in British schools well into the period of the Second World War.

The compulsory recitation of poetry was, however, finally abolished by the Butler Education Act of 1944. In the later 20th century children had more choice in the selection of the poetry they studied in school and increasingly used it for creative purposes rather than as something to memorise. Poetry was pushed from its once central position to the edge of the curriculum and increasingly reserved for lessons taught by skilled teachers of literature. No doubt, the decreased emphasis on rote learning was considered a boon by many involved in education, but with it, we ordinary people have perhaps lost something – that powerful ability to make ourselves and our families and communities feel better by summoning the right words at the right time!

Useful books and websites

• Marion Aldis and Pam Inder, The Happiest Days of Their Lives? Nineteenth Century Education Through the Eyes of Those Who Were There, Chaplin Books, 2016
• Pamela Horn, The Victorian and Edwardian Schoolchild, Sutton Publishing, 2013
• James Raven, Helen Small and Noami Tadmor, eds., Representation of Reading in England, Cambridge UP, 1996
• Catherine Robson, Heart Beats: Everyday Life and the Memorized Poem, Princeton University Press, 2012.
• Jonathan Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, Yale University Press, 2001.
• poemhunter.com – Search here for poems and poets.