I remember having to memorize and recite "The Second Coming" in high school and wondering what the hell the point was. Hearing Yeats recite "Innisfree" on ATC yesterday was a revelation- I'd never heard his actual voice or even known that he'd recorded any of his own poems, and it drove home what a graceless klutz I was way back when. Hirsch's notion that poetry requires the human body to give it proper instrumentation is a beautiful one, too.

On a slightly related note, I still find myself idly reciting the first 18 lines of the Canterbury Tales prologue (another high school requirement) when I'm stressed out or doing something that requires focus. Something about the tidal sway of the cadences has a physiological effect on me- pulse slows, breathing evens out, hands steady on the requisite task. It's like reciting an incantation.