The Poetry and Memory Project is an interdisciplinary enquiry into the value and experience of memorising and performing poetry, and examining the relationship between memorisation and understanding.
The initial project, at The University of Cambridge Faculty of Education and funded by the Leverhulme Trust, was run by David Whitley and Debbie Pullinger from 2014–2017. It yielded a large and rich set of data, and culminated in an interdiscipinary conference at Homerton College.
Debbie has continued to work on this investigation, and a book will follow in due course.
You can read the project report and our initial publications here.
The initial project, at The University of Cambridge Faculty of Education and funded by the Leverhulme Trust, was run by David Whitley and Debbie Pullinger from 2014–2017. It yielded a large and rich set of data, and culminated in an interdiscipinary conference at Homerton College.
Debbie has continued to work on this investigation, and a book will follow in due course.
You can read the project report and our initial publications here.
This project is fascinating and important. And it reveals a web of truths that we too often fail to notice: that our pleasure in poetry is as natural as breathing, that it forms part of our foundation as individuals, that the poems we commit to memory stay with us forever, and grow as we grow.
Sir Andrew Motion, Project Advisor
