[izzygonzalez]

I memorized half of If when I was younger. It seemed especially impressive to certain people.

These days I combine mnemonics with memory palace journeys. In a few hours of practice I went from being able to memorize 6 digits to around 70.

My penultimate challenge is to memorize texts verbatim. I haven't been able to find a straightforward method. My next thought is to research theater performers' methods and Hafiz methods. If anyone has any specific pointers to share I'd be grateful.

[memoryperson10]

To memorize text verbatim, you might find value in learning GMS. Mattias Ribbing has a course (search on coursio.io for his name) called "First Steps to a Complete Master Memory" and a follow-up course. This course is like the abridged version of GMS. To summarize in one sentence: GMS has you make palaces/journeys constructed from objects and their parts and you attach mnemonics to the parts. It is effective, but requires a decent amount of training. There is a second course called Pmemory (phenomenal memory) that has disappeared from the internet except for certain torrent websites. GMS (via Pmemory) was brought to the English-speaking world by an "interesting" character, but it was not invented by this character. I would suggest digging into the Pmemory material if you are serious, even though it can be a little confusing and overly prescriptive. But yes, I was able to memorize theorems and mathematical formulae verbatim. The time/energy cost was too high to maintain in my schedule, but I look forward to returning to the system in the future.

[samatman]

Memorize blank verse, aim for a stanza a day. There's loads of it, and you can be that guy who spouts just a bit too much Shakespeare at parties.

It's closer to prose, but the meter makes it harder to swap words out, and teaches you that words aren't fungible in memorizing a text (as opposed to learning from it, which is most of what we do with texts).

[ColinWright]

> If anyone has any specific pointers to share I'd be grateful.

I recite a pair of lines multiple times until they feel natural. Then I put overlapping quintuples of words into my Spaced Repetition system. So with Ozymandias I read the first section:

  I met a traveller from an antique land who said:
  "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand ..."

Then into my SR system I put:

  I met a traveller from | traveller from an antique land ...
  traveller from an antique land | antique land who said: "Two ...

etc. This has worked extremely well for me.

YMMV.

[quartesixte]

The ancients put rhythm to their poems for a reason. It aids memorization of long passages.

But also, text I find is something that resists mnemonic systems. Rote repetition to make the text lived and part of you, to burn into your brain and tongue the very act of saying the words in that specific order seems to rule the day still.