How to remember words, et cetera. In a preceding chapter we gave a
number of instances of persons who had highly developed their memory of words, sentences,
et cetera. History is full of instances of this kind. The moderns
fall far behind the ancients in this respect, probably because there does not exist
the present necessity for the feats of memory which were once accepted as commonplace and
not out of the ordinary. Among ancient people, when printing was unknown and
manuscripts scarce and valuable, it was the common custom of the people to learn
by heart the various sacred teachings of their respective religions. The sacred books of
the Hindus were transmitted in this way, and it was a common thing among
the Hebrews to be able to recite the books of Moses and the Prophets entirely
from memory. Even to the day, the faithful Mohammedans are taught to commit
the entire Koran to memory, and investigation reveals always that there has been used
the identical process of committing these sacred books to memory and recalling them at will,
the natural method instead of an artificial one. And therefore we shall devote
this chapter solely to this method, whereby poems or prose may be committed to
memory and recalled readily. This natural method of memorizing words, sentences, or
verses is no royal road. It is a system which must be mastered by
steady work and faithful review. One must start at the beginning and work his
way up. But the result of such work will astonish anyone not familiar with
it. It is the very same method that the Hindus, Hebrews, Mohammedans,
Norsemen, and the rest of the races memorized their thousands of verses and
hundreds of chapters of the sacred books of their people. It is the method
of the successful actor and the popular elocutionist not to mention those speakers who carefully
commit to memory their impromptu addresses and extemporaneous speeches. This natural system of memorizing
is based upon the principle which has already been alluded to in this book,
and by which every child learns its alphabet and its multiplication table, as well
as the little piece that it recites for the entertainment of its fond parents and
the board friends of the family. That principle consists of the learning of one
line at a time and reviewing that line, then learning a second line and
reviewing that, and then reviewing the two lines together, and so on,
each edition being reviewed in connection with those that went before. The child that
learns the sound of A, then it learns B, then it associates the
sound of a B in its first review, the C is added, and
the review runs A, B, C, and so on until Z is
reached and the child is able to review the entire list from A to Z
inclusive. The multiplication table begins with its twice one is two, then twice
two is four, and so on, a little at a time until the
twos are finished and the threes begun. This process is kept up by constant
addition and constant review until twelve twelves finishes up the list and the child is
able to repeat the tables from first to last from memory. But there is
more to it in the case of the child than merely learning to repeat the
alphabet or the multiplication table. There is also the strengthening of the memory as
a result of its exercise and use. Memory, like every faculty of the
mind or every muscle of the body, improves and develops by intelligent and reasonable
use and exercise. Not only does this exercise and use develop the memory along
the particular line of the faculty used, but also along every line and faculty.
This is so because the exercise develops the power of concentration and the use
of the voluntary attention. We suggest that the student who wishes to acquire a
good memory for words, sentences, et cetera, begin at once selecting some
favorite poem for the purpose of the demonstration. Then let him memorize one verse
of not only four to six lines to begin with. Let him learn this
verse perfectly, line by line, until he is able to repeat it without
a mistake. Let him be sure to be letter perfect in that verse,
so perfect that he will see even the capital letters and the punctuation marks when
he recites it. Then let him stop for the day. The next day,
let him repeat the verse learned the day before, and then let him
memorize a second verse in the same way and just as perfectly. Then let
him review the first and second verses together. This addition of the second verse
to the first verse serves to weld the two together by association, and each
review of them together serves to add a little bit to the weld until they
become joined in the mind as our A, B. C. The third
day, let him learn a third verse in the same way, and then
review the three. Continue this for say a month, adding a new verse
each day and adding to it the verses preceding it, but constantly review them
from beginning to end. He cannot review them too often. He will be
able to have them flow along like the letters of the alphabet, from A
to Z. If he reviews properly and often enough. Then if he can
spare the time, let him begin the second month by learning two verses each
day and adding to those that precede them with constant and faithful reviews. He
will find that he can memorize two verses in the second month as easily as
he did the one verse in the first month. His memory has been trained
to this extent, and so he may proceed from month to month adding an
extra verse to his daily task until he is unable to spare the time for
all the work, or until he feels satisfied with what he is accomplished.
Let him use moderation and not try to become a phenomenon. Let him avoid
overstraining. After he has memorized the entire poem. Let him start with a
new one, but not forget to revive the old one at frequent intervals.
If he finds it impossible to add the necessary number of new verses by reasons
of other occupation, et cetera, let him not fail to keep up his
review work. The exercise and review is more important than mere addition of so
many new verses. Let him vary the verses or poems with prose selections.
He will find the verses of the Bible very well adapted for such exercise,
as they lend themselves easily to registration in the memory. Shakespeare may be used
to advantage in this work. The Rubayat of Omar Khayam or The Lady of
the Lake by Scott, or the Song Celestial or Light of Asia, both
by Edwin Arnold, will be found to be well adapted to this system of
memorizing, the verses of each being apt to stick in the memory, and
each poem being sufficiently long to satisfy the requirements of even the most ambitious student.
To look at the complete poem any of those mentioned, it would seem
almost impossible that one would ever be able to memorize and recite it from beginning
to end letter perfect. But on the principle of the continual dripping of water
wearing away the stone or the snowball increasing at each roll. This practice of
a little being associated to what he already has will soon allow him to accumulate
a wonderfully large store of memorized verses, poems, recitations, etc. It
is an actual demonstration of the catchy words the popular song, which informs one
that every little bit added to what you've got makes just a little bit more.
After he has acquired quite a large assortment of memorized selections, he will
find it impossible to review them all at one time, but he should be
sure to review them all at intervals, no matter how many days may elapse
between each review. The student who has familiarized himself with the principles upon which
memory depends, as given in the preceding chapters, will at once see that
the three principles of attention, association, and repetition are employed in the natural
method. Herein, recommended attention must be given in order to memorize each verse.
In the first place, association is employed in the relationship created between the
old verses and the new ones, and Repetition is employed by the frequent reviewing,
which serves to deepen the memory impression each time the poem is repeated.
Moreover, the principle of interest is invoked in the gradual progress made and the
accomplishment of what at first seemed to be an impossible task. The game element
is thus supplied, which serves as an incentive. These combined principles render this
method an ideal one, and it is not to be wondered that the race
has so recognized it from the earliest times.