Students › Learn by heart

Memory work

Learn by heart

Practice a poem, a speech, a prayer, or any section of a work in the library. Read it aloud, then hide a few more words with each click until you can say the whole thing from memory.

  1. i. Choose a passage
  2. ii. Choose how many words to hide each click
  3. iii. Say it aloud, blanks and all

Begin with one of these

Scripture · KJVPsalm 23Attributed to David

The LORD is my ; I shall not want.

118 words · 6 versesPractice →
Creed · 1662 Prayer BookThe Apostles' CreedThe Book of Common Prayer

I believe in God the Father , Maker of heaven and earth

110 wordsPractice →
PoemInvictusWilliam Ernest Henley

I am the master of my : I am the captain of my soul.

103 words · 4 stanzasPractice →
SpeechThe Gettysburg AddressAbraham Lincoln, 1863

Fourscore and seven ago our fathers brought forth…

266 wordsPractice →
SonnetSonnet 18William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a day?

114 words · 14 linesPractice →

Or open any full-text work and select a passage.

Select the lines you want in the reader, then choose Memorize this passage. A short poem or speech can be practiced whole with the Memorize this button on its page.

Passages can be up to about 400 words — roughly a long poem or a page of prose. Longer pieces are best learned a section at a time.

Looking for something to recite?

The poem chooser lists 406 poems by length and grade, and Prayers & Creeds has the Lord’s Prayer, the Nicene Creed, and other texts for memory work.

Only public-domain texts hosted in the library can be practiced here. 371 short works can be practiced whole.

Prayers and creeds to learn by heart