CMP Review 2024-10-08

CMP Review 2024-10-08

October 8, 2024

The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines “to recite” as “to repeat aloud (a poem or passage) from memory before an audience.” It’s from this verb that we get the noun “recitation,” “the action of repeating something aloud from memory,” an art as old as language itself.

Recitation was a standard practice in the British schools of Charlotte Mason’s day. But how was it being approached? How was it being taught? Mason would later claim that “there is no subject which has not a fresh and living way of approach.” Could this be true even of a traditional subject like recitation?

Enter educationist Arthur Burrell. In the very second issue of The Parents’ Review, he would write an article to answer that question. He would show that recitation, too, has a living way of approach. His article would begin a long, fruitful, and synergistic relationship between Burrell and the PNEU.

Burrell’s 1890 article remains unmatched as a call for the reformation of recitation. It is still a fascinating read. But there is one thing even better than reading Burrell’s article. It is listening to it read aloud by audio performer Greg Rolling. This recording we bring you today.

You see, whatever the OED says about “recitation,” Mr. Burrell defines it his own way. Turning the teaching of recitation on its head, Burrell’s timeless piece redefined recitation once and for all as “the children’s art.” Read or listen to it here.

@artmiddlekauff