Ruby, of Freehold 2, after seeing my post about her post on recitation, kindly expanded on her reflections about her experiences with recitation as a student. Her teacher Miss Evans believed that only by acting Shakespeare could one truly understand him. I am of the opinion of Miss Evans, in regards to understanding and feeling (see my posts on Enoch Arden and Jerome McGann’s essay in the “Poets reading Poets” post). Recitation is an interpretative method, but it is hardly used today.
Ruby quotes a very difficult passage from A Midsummer Night’s Dream that she chose to recite in class. Read it aloud — it really does give the mouth a full workout. And regards the value of recitation as a tool for memory retention, I will add to my last personal note that I can still recite Duke Orsinio’s lines from the first scene of The Tempest, even though, in the intervening years, I can’t remember how may things I’ve forgotten.
