Master of Memory: Accelerated learning, education, memorization - MMem 0435: Memorize “The Friend” by A. A. Milne

Episode Date: November 6, 2015

Patrick asks about memorizing poetry of AA Milne. I present tactics and resources for memorizing Milne’s poem “The Friend”. What do you want to learn? Leave your question at http://MasterOfMemory.com/. Music credit: Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet, 2nd movement, performed by the US Army Band.

Master of Memory 435. Welcome to Master of Memory. I'm Timothy, and I'm here to answer your accelerated learning questions every day and to inspire and empower you to learn anything you want to learn faster than ever. Patrick requested memorization materials for memorizing poetry of A. A. Milne. Now, there will be eight poems by A. A. Milne with a lot of resources for memorizing these, including the mnemonics and the recordings and the quizzes, in our poetry this at masterofmemory.com slash poetry. They aren't out there yet. We've had a delay on producing this course because of some things that have been happening and some exciting things that have been happening with new projects at

Master of Memory and the Spanish course and the way that it's growing. But the materials are in the process of being created, particularly when there are requests for specific poems, as there has been with this episode today. Now, as regular listeners know, the way that we memorize poetry at Master of Memory is we essentially reduce each line of the poem to a single keyword, and we try to focus on that keyword and then remember the rest of the line from that, from having heard it a few times. And then the way to remember those keywords, of course, is with mnemonics. But today I'm actually not going to present the mnemonics. Instead, I'm going to emphasize more the value of focusing on a keyword, the value of exclusivity,

for recalling an entire line. So this poem is eight lines long. It's a bit longer than the previous one because each of these lines is a lot longer than in, you know, and now we are six. But it's a fun little poem, and it involves Winnie the Pooh. A. A. Milne, if you don't know, is the author of the original Winnie the Pooh. And his poems have a sort of rhythmic feel to them that has them read more in a musical way, I would say, than most poetry, which is meant to be read in more of a natural speaking voice. So as I deliver this poem, try to get the rhythm, and that will help you actually with your memory of the poem, you know, with that combined with the mnemonics. So let's hear this poem, and I'm going to deliver it with a kind of rhythm that you should try to get. There are lots and lots

of people who are always asking things, like dates and pounds and ounces and the names of funny kings, and the answer's always sixpence or a hundred inches long, and I know they'll think me silly if I get the answer wrong. So Pooh and I go whispering, and Pooh looks very bright and says, well, I say sixpence, but I don't suppose I'm right. And then it doesn't matter what the answer ought to be, because if he's right, I'm right. And if he's wrong, it isn't me. So very childish and very rhythmic. I mean, just the first line, there are lots and lots of people who are always asking things. I mean, how juvenile but delightful is that? Now, if I present to you the keyword asking, then I think you'll have a fairly easy time remembering that line, having maybe heard

it one or two times and said it once or twice. There are lots and lots of people who are always asking things. The next line is like dates and pounds and ounces and the names of funny kings. So we're talking about, you know, different facts like dates and weights or measures and historical facts like kings. And the keyword here here I would say is names because it's just, you know, all of these things have to do with names. So like dates and pounds and ounces and the names of funny kings. So let me give you those two keywords again and see if you can say the lines along with me just from having heard them a couple of times like this. The first keyword is asking. There are lots and lots of people who are

always asking things. And the next one is names. So this is more complicated. Like dates and pounds and ounces and the names of funny kings. These are quite long lines. And in cases like this, if one keyword isn't doing it for you, don't worry about it. Just turn it into two keywords. But for me, I think one keyword is enough for these lines. The next keyword is six pence. And the answer is always six pence or a hundred inches long. So he's just being, he's basically talking sarcastically or complaining about the answers to these questions and how boring they are and how hard to remember they are, frankly, like the normal way that people teach things. But anyway, and the answer is always six pence or 100 inches long.

And then the final keyword is silly. And I know they'll think me silly if I get the answer wrong. So the rhythms combined with the rhymes are quite good for holding this in your memory, but for actually making it stick, we use the keywords and we use mnemonics to prompt these lines. Rhythms combined with the rhymes are quite good for holding this in your memory, but for actually making it stick, we use the keywords and we use mnemonics to prompt these lines. So let's turn these four keywords of this first stanza into an acronym, actually. A-N-S-S. So if you just actually, you can create a mnemonic for that, but you can just go ans,

and you may be able to remember it at least temporarily for our exercise here that way. Again, here I'm not emphasizing the mnemonics. I'm actually emphasizing the way that this works, thinking about a keyword and then being able to remember the whole line. So the first keyword is asking, and then names, and then sixpence, and then silly. So try to remember those keywords, first of all, as I say these lines. There are lots and lots of people who are always asking things, like dates and pounds and ounces and the names of funny kings, and the answer is always sixpence or a hundred inches long, and I know they'll think me silly if I get the answer wrong. If you were able to remember those

four key words as I said them, then now maybe, thinking get the answer wrong. If you were able to remember those four keywords as I said them, then now maybe, thinking of those keywords, you'll be able to remember the lines. So remember, asking, names, sixpence, and silly. Right, let's try to recite it. There are lots and lots of people who are always asking things, like dates and pounds and ounces and the names of funny kings, and the answer's always sixpence or a hundred inches long, and I know they'll think me silly if I get the answer wrong. So there you go. That's a big part of the method that we use for memorizing

poetry. It's very efficient. You can memorize lots of poems in a very short period of time this way, and I think poems are very rewarding to memorize. If you're in agreement, then just go to masterofmemory.com slash poetry, and there will be a way there to get updates whenever we have new material out for memorizing the poetry of Keats, Edgar Allan Poe, A. A. Milne, Kipling, Tolkien, eight poems by Tolkien actually, one of my favorites, and many others, a total of 80 poems that we're going to be releasing before long. Meanwhile, what do you want to learn in particular? If there's a particular poem that you want me to go over, and if you want me to help you memorize that, that'll work, and I'd be happy to do it. I always love it. Just leave your learning request at masterofmemory.com slash question, and I'll talk to you again soon.