Stokes' System of Memory

The Association of Ideas, which, if rightly regulated, may be made of immense service in facilitating learning by heart, if carelessly or unskillfully used, will prove equally misleading, retarding, and prejudicial. The ntmost care should be taken in order to see that what is done, is done well. First, as far as possible, grasp the meaning of that which you are about to learn, then try to fix in the Memory the first sentence or part of the first sentence, by uttering it, and picturing its meaning at the same time. If learning from print or writing, observe the position and appearance of the words, and the locality of the sentences also, and then removing your eyes, try to repeat from mental sight. You should not proceed to the second sentence till the mind's tongue is as ready as, or in advance of, your mind's eye. You cannot be said to know a sentence thoroughly until you can repeat it without the slightest hesitation. In illustration of what has been said as to the mode of committing to Memory, let us take the introductory remarks to the "Ode to the Deity". "This Ode is said to have been translated."—These words are sufficient to take upon your tongue at once—let every word be fixed thoroughly. If you were to simply get the idea, you might express it in a great many different ways—but the idea is not sufficient, you want the precise words. You might detect yourself saying "This Ode was translated;" if so, stop yourself at once by remarking, No! It does not say positively "This Ode was," but "This Ode is said to have been," &c.—and so on through, by strengthening your impressions by mental comments. As soon as you have mastered "This Ode is said to have been translated," attach the next portion by uttering the last part of that which you have learned, with the first part of that which you are going to learn; thus:—"translated into the Tartar and Chinese languages"—and when you know this also, proceed upon the same principle continuously, learning in each case as thoroughly as possible before attaching anything more; thus:—"languages written on silk"—"on silk and suspended"—"and suspended in the Imperial Palace at Pekin." Having learned this sentence, think of, or repeat, "at Pekin," and "the Emperor," together, thus:—"at Pekin the Emperor;" which means that the end of the first sentence will be linked to the beginning of the second, by reflective, articulatory and vibratory association. Proceed upon the same principle throughout, thus:—"The Emperor of Japan had it translated into Japanese"—"Japanese embroidered in Gold"—"Embroidered in Gold and hung up"—"and hung up in the Temple"—"in the Temple of Jeddo"—"in the Temple of Jeddo it is gratifying"—"it is gratifying to learn"—"to learn that these nations"—"that these nations have bestowed"—"have bestowed such honors"—"such honors on this noble composition"—"this noble composition we believe"—"we believe that no man"—"that no man however powerful his intellect"—"powerful his intellect and sublime his imagination"—"his imagination unacquainted with Holy Writ"—"unacquainted with Holy Writ ever did"—"ever did or ever will compose so exalted a poem"—"poem it abounds with Scriptural allusions"—"allusions the finest"—"the finest parts of the Ode were written"—"were written when the soul of the author"—"when the soul of the author perhaps unconsciously"—"perhaps unconsciously was wrapt in contemplation of passages in the bible"—"in the bible one of the most exquisite verses"—"one of the most exquisite verses in the poem, &c."—These instructions should be carried out most carefully in order to test their efficiency, and slight modifications may be afterwards made in their application to suit the peculiar requirements of the pupil. Not only should words and sentences be thus united, but paragraphs and chapters also. With a little practice the application of the plan becomes swift, which often appears doubtful to those unused to its exercise. Some raise the objection that this method involves much additional repetition; but on the contrary, it saves a great deal of repetition—repetition which is wearisome and useless. The ordinary way of learning is almost entirely by repetition, thus:—"This Ode is said to have been translated into the Tartar and Chinese languages, written on silk, and suspended in the Imperial Palace at Pekin." "This Ode is said to have been translated into the Tartar and Chinese languages, written on silk and suspended in the Imperial Palace at Pekin." "This Ode is said to have been translated into the Tartar and Chinese languages, written on silk, and suspended in the Imperial Palace at Pekin," &c., &c. Learn poetry upon the same principle as prose—take only a few words upon the tongue at once—which words learn thoroughly—understand, and as far as possible picture the idea suggested by them. Link to the first sentence the second; to the second, the third; to the third, the fourth; to the fourth, the fifth; to the fifth, the sixth, &c., &c. Do not leave off at the end of a line, simply "because it is the end of the line," but be guided by the "sense." Let the latter be your "general rule," but observe also—and note this particularly—it is some times desirable to destroy the sense, alter the sense, or make fresh sense of the sentences by reading the end of one and the beginning of another; if by so doing vibrational Memory is secured, or an intellectual chasm is bridged. For although the sense of the piece may be partially destroyed in learning, it will not be destroyed in repetition. After a few repetitions the associations by which a piece is learned fade from the mind, but the piece itself remains in perfection. Experience proves this, which might otherwise be a somewhat questionable fact. The succession of verses may be remembered upon the same principle. Link with the last suggestive word, or idea, of the first verse, the first suggestive word or idea, of the second verse; with the last of the second verse, the first of the third; with the last of the third, the first of the fourth;—and so on

The following application of the above suggestions to the "Ode to the Deity," if carefully studied, will illustrate very clearly that which I have endeavored to explain. You should learn at least two or three verses of the Ode upon the plan given, as an exercise, but merely reading the illustrations will be sufficient to enable you to understand how to apply the principles to anything else. In reading the following, please bear in mind that you are supposed to learn one sentence before you proceed to another. I advise you to commit the whole of the Ode to Memory, as you would probably consider it very difficult to learn in the ordinary manner, and if you succeed with this you may be pretty sure of mastering anything! "O Thou Eternal One"—"O Thou ​Eternal One whose presence bright"—"whose presence bright all space doth occupy"—"all space doth ocссuру, all motion guide"—"all motion guide unchanged"—(here you knock out the stop and make make fresh sense, which is this, that "God does all motion guide unchanged;" the new idea being, that the laws of motion are the same to-day as they were at the creation; they are unchanged.)

The object in making the two sentences thus blend, is to canse vibrational Memory. You will find upon repeating the first two lines in the ordinary way, that directly after you have uttered the word "guide," the word "unchanged" will spring up and will suggest "Through time's all everlasting flight."—It sometimes happens that we "break down" repeatedly at some particular part of a piece of composition, without being able to assign any cause for so doing; when this is the case, link the sentences together as just shown.

To proceed with the Ode:—We have reached the first word of the third line, "Unchanged "—Unchanged through time's all everlasting flight"—"through time's all everlasting flight Thou only God"—"Thou only God there is no God beside"—"there is no God beside Being above all beings"—Being above all beings mighty One"—"Mighty One whom none can comprehend"—"Whom none can comprehend and none explore"—"and none explore embracing all"—"embracing all supporting"—"supporting ruling o'er"—"ruling o'er being"—Being whom we call God'—"whom we call God I know no more!" Now try to read the whole of the verse again in precisely the same manner as before, and continue the remainder of the poem in the same manner at your leisure.

The following arrangement will illustrate the plan suggested for linking the verses. To unite to the first verse the second, say or think of "more" and "sublime" together, and so on:—

You see we have gone through the Poem upou Mnemonical principles; but without using our Mnemonical Key. The Key may be used for this, however, or for any other piece of poetry or prose, and may be used, too, in most cases with immense advantage. The more clearly we can see a thing mentally, the better and the use of the Key aids us in this.

As a general rule for poetry associate the first suggestive word or idea of each verse with the prompter corresponding with the number of the verse—thus with the Ode: please try to learn the following:—

If you find it difficult to associate the above, the following suggestions will aid you. Some of them may appear to you to be far fetched and inappropriate; but remember that as soon as you can form associations easily for yourself, you will probably much prefer your own ideas—although to me or to others they might seem as unsuitable as mine do to you.

Now try to repent from memory the whole of the verse—words attached to the prompters. Run them over two or three times, till you can give the word that goes with any number instantly, thus:—

When you can answer this quickly, you will be able also to reply accurately to the following questions:—

What is the number of the verse that begins thus:—Thy claims the unmeasured universe surround?" Answer: "The 7th! because the word Claims, which is the first suggestive word in the line, is associated with Key, which is No. 7." Again: "The chain of being is complete in me?" Answer: "The 17th! because Chain is associated with Deck, which is 17;" and so with any of the others. When you use prompters, you will find it unnecessary to link the verses together in the manner I showed you just now. There are four ways of putting the verse words upon the Key: 1st, before learning any of the verses; 2nd, after learning all the verses; 3rd, taking one at a time just before, or 4th, just after, learning each verse. I generally use the latter plan; each verse is then learned as far as possible by its sense, and being immediately afterwards placed upon the Key, it can be at once referred to and repeated mentally. You had better try each plan and adopt that which you find most advantageous. If you were to learn 20 verses of a poem separately and tried to repeat them in their order, if one verse did not naturally lead to another, you would be almost sure to omit or misplace some; but by placing them upon the Key in the manner I have described, you would say them throughout without the slightest difficulty. You had better try this, as it is a very startling and most convincing experiment. If you happen to know some piece almost accurately, but falter at certain parts, put the cues of the perplexing portions upon the key and your difficulties will vanish. Not only may the succession of the verses be known by the prompters, but the succession of the lines; this is effected by associating the cue word of each line with a prompter, either before learning the lines or afterwards. The following examples will serve to illustrate the plan, but I do not recommend its adoption for such a piece as this, which should be learned for its sublimity and not for display of eccentric power. There are certain circumstances, however, under which we are glad of any plan which will insure rapidity of acquirement and accuracy of retention; and many people can learn far more quickly when they use the prompters in this way than by any other method.

When the first suggestive word is the same in two or more lines, it should be either used in the first instance only, or the next suggestive word or idea in each line should be substituted in each case. When you repeat a piece of poetry from the Key, you should let your mind's eye go to the prompter and Locality of the prompter from which you are speaking, and just before you finish saying that which goes with one prompter, think of the next prompter, and in an instant it will suggest that which you have to say next. Mark, you will not find this interfere with your delivery, nor in any way distract your attention; in fact, it will increase your concentration, and will give you confidence. When you have said the piece several times with the prompters, you will find that you cease to think of them, and will only see mentally the localities in which the verses or lines were placed, and with increased practice you will find the entire poem run upon the tongue, without your thinking either of the prompters or localities.

In using the Key for prose, the first suggestive word or idea of each chapter, paragraph or sentence, should be associated with a prompter as occasion may require. For both poetry or prose never use a prompter, simply for the sake of using it; and never omit using one, simply for the sake of doing without it. To avoid the unnecessary use of a multiplicity of prompters, the method of making the sentences blend, over-lap, or dovetail, may be advantageously employed mainly, and prompters may be used at the same time occasionally for a long piece of ordinary composition. With a very difficult short piece of composition, into which many distinct ideas are compressed, a prompter should be used wherever there is a change of thought.

1. Memory Means Mind—2. Mysteriously—3. Matured—4. Memory Makes Moulds—5. Multitudinous Misfortunes—6. Meager Memory Means—7. Many Men Meditating—8. Meager Memory Makes—9. Mould—10. Memory Managed—11. Many Maddened—12. Menials—13. Memory Methods—14. Miss Market Much—15. Many Men Much Misunderstand—16. Many Men Mentally—17. Mercenary—18. Murky Minded—19. Memory Methods Master Minutely—20. Memory Methods Might Make Monarchs—21. Memory Methodically—22. Metropolitan—23. Money Moving—24. Morose—25. Misguided—26. Memory Methodized—27. Mothers—28. Makes Model Men—29. Mind-Memory—30. Memory Moulds—31. Military—32. Milk-maids' Musings—33. Misconduct—34. Murderers—35. Methodical—36. Mentioning—37. Many Merely Muttering—38. Му—

In committing to Memory hymns, psalms, or chapters of the Bible, the verses should be associated without prompters as much as possible. When you have learned a piece of composition, you should repeat it before it has begun to fade from the mind, and you should again and again repeat it at intervals till you feel that you have mastered it quite, and mastered it permanently but; even then you ought not to trust yourself too confidently, as occasional repetition is generally found to be necessary with even the most talented. (See also "Stokes om Memory, American Edition.")