Spouting Nonsense by Heart
Edward Lear (1812–88) was an English artist and author who, among his
other notable accomplishments, was Queen Victoria’s art teacher and the
author of some wonderful nonsense verse. He is probably best remembered
today for “The Owl and the Pussycat”.
We will be leaving those feathered and furry friends to their own devices
today. Instead, I invite you to read the following limerick by Lear:
There was an Old Man who said, “Hush!
I perceive a young bird in this bush!”
When they said, “Is it small?” He
replied,“Not at all! It is four times as big
as the bush!”
Now make a Mind Map of the limerick that includes its imagery.
When you have finished, study your Mind Map for about five to ten
minutes, or until you think you’ve memorized the information on it. Set it
to one side.
On a fresh sheet of paper, recall and write out the limerick from memory.
How did you do?
If you enjoy the process, make a Mind Map for a longer poem. Before
you know it, you will be able to commit whole ballads to memory!
When we are attempting to revise and memorize information, problems tend to
occur in the short-term memory, as this is where new information is initially
collected before being passed on to the long-term memory. Earlier in this chapter
(see
page 72
), we learned how the psychologist George Armitage Miller
discovered that the short-term memory can only hold approximately seven
pieces of information. If this information is to be retained by the long-term
memory, it has to be rehearsed before it can be passed on, which is why last-
minute cramming for an exam can be so difficult: for information to be
efficiently remembered, it has to be collated and connected in some way. And
this, of course, is where chunking in Mind Maps can come into its own as a
means of recalling data (see
page 72
).
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