Traditionally poems would be recited and passed from poet to poet through the ages. It is only recently that poetry is something that one reads alone, rather than reciting to an audience. At some point in the education of any student majoring in poetry, one will attempt to memorize a poem, and possibly recite it to someone else.  Chances are that you have already memorized thousands of lines of verse in the form of lyrics. How did you memorize the lyrics of songs? You simply listened to songs you liked over and over again until you almost couldn't help but have them memorized. Memorizing poetry isn't much different. You start with a poem you like, recite it to yourself over and over again, and you get to know it.  One of the best aspects of learning a poem by heart is that you get to take a poem inside of yourself. It becomes a part of you. When you memorize a poem, it is no longer just a poem, but yours. It's in your head, and you can call it up from memory as you would in any other experience.  Also, memorizing a poem is a great way to truly get to understand languages, and consider every phrase, line, and word. You can practice varying the sounds, adding pauses and emphasis in different spots to try to find the most accurate tone for the poem. In a way, you never really know a poem until you've memorized it. Once you know it, you'll be able to recite it, like a jazz musician improvising  inside a song's boundaries - adding his own words or re-wording a section to make it his own. According to the text, in the past poems were   _  .
usually written in the form of songs by some musicians mainly circulated among poets by oral communication seldom chosen as teaching materials in most universities only something that people enjoyed alone by themselves