Among memory techniques, rote memorization has a bad reputation. However, it's hard to argue with the effectiveness of rote.

It wasn't that long ago that rote memorization of poetry was a normal part of school. In an article titled In Defense of Memorization, Michael Knox Beran points out the benefits of returning to such a curriculum. The same arguments could be held for simply adding the practice to your everday life.

With a great why, the how of memorizing poetry needs to come next. The ingenious methods linked over in the Memory Basics section won't help you here. The best methods I've found are described at About.com and Poetry X. Even with these methods, you still need to be flexible when you apply them. Sure, understanding the meanings of each and every word is usually quite important, but that technique won't work well for a poem such as Jabberwocky.

There is, of course, the matter of which poems to memorize. You can find several great suggestions for starting points in Poems to Memorize, Recite, and Learn by Heart: For Fun, Forensics Meets, and Profit or Poems To Memorize.

As you proceed, you'll find that you gravitate to particular subjects and/or authors. I'll leave you with one of my favorite poets, Shel Silverstein.