By Robert Oliphant

First a three-year-old reciting the 50 states and now a five-year-old (2-17-06) reciting the 43 presidents - it certainly looks like Ellen De Generes is solidly behind America's current revival of mnemonic learning, including its debt to the Greek poet Simonides (c556-468 BC), author of the first Olympian victory ode (520 BC).

Visual memory . . . . Our five-year-old, viewers will recall, memorized the presidents visually, based on a large table mat with pictures of them symmetrically arranged, thereby paralleling what Simonides did when he who visualized and famously recalled the original banquet table placement of diners subsequently crushed by an earthquake. Nor was Simonides alonge , as Frances Yates points out in The Arts of Memory ; for he was followed by a long procession of mnemonic theorists and practitioners that included the incredible Matteo Ricci, who literally transported via his mind's eye and ear most of European science and literature to 17 th century imperial China .

Even today many American reference librarians perform their prodigious feats of hands-on target retrieval by visualizing - Simonides style - their Dewey Decimal System as a "temple of knowledge" with ten columns, each segmented into sub-categories very much like those of Robert Fludd's "memory theater," as described in Jonathan Spence's The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci.

Rhythmic memory . . . . Visual memory and rhythmic memory, both of which go back to the preliterate past of our species, work very well together. The Victorians, for example, made Shakespeare's sonnets easier to learn by presenting them as three visually distinct 4-line stanzas closing with a 2-line couplet. Even today the visual-verbal format of poetry makes it our most effective memorization tool, especially when it can be linked to music.

By way of illustration an appended version of the U.S. presidents uses Jingle Bells both as a visual frame (8 stanzas) and as a rhythmic pattern (accent marks over the vowel letters of stressed syllables).

Mnemonics and high-stakes testing . . . . As recently as ten years ago this kind of mnemonic learning would have been disparaged as "learning by rote," just as rhythmic recitation, alone or in unison while marching, would have been disparaged as "sing song." Today, though, the career importance of high-stakes testing has brought with it an emphasis upon memory-based tests administered by outside agencies, along with other public demonstrations of learning achievement like the Scripps National Spelling Bee, the National Anthem Project (learning all four stanzas of the Star-Spangled Banner), and the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest.

Overall the career importance of high stakes testing can be summed up in one phrase: personal best. As Richard Phelps has pointed out, we take most high stakes tests (SAT, GRE, bar exams, etc.) individually, not as members of a team. Even more important, we can usually repeat a specific challenge again and again , as opposed to having a low letter grade indelibly stamped upon our academic record.

Nor should we ignore here the growing career importance of fitness achievements like completing the Boston Marathon or the Iron Man® triathlon, both of which are now just as importance in job resumés as impressive grade point averages and academic honors.

TO CONCLUDE. . . . As our young Simonides and his family have now discovered, Americans are basically a "what can you do?" people, not a nation which treat degrees and credentials with the deference that they once commanded in imperial China . Learning the U.S. Presidents or the Star Spangled Banner (all four verses) by heart may not seem like much. But it's certainly going to do more for one's self esteem than worrying about getting into a high-priced prep school or - even worse later on in life - going blank on proper names and not doing y thing about it.

As an actor and standup performer, Ellen De Generes knows that memorizing pays off, that it's hard work, and that it deserves to be taken seriously. By bringing young Simonides to the attention of her viewers she is making a marvelous contribution to our current, and long overdue, revival of mnemonic learning.

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APPENDIX. . . . The U.S. Presidents in Office-Holding Sequence

NOTE. . . . This can fairly be called a multi-sensory presentation: language (tongue), rhythm (touch), ear (rhyme), and eye (line-stanza presentation). As indicated by the accent marks over the vowel letters of stressed syllables, this mnemonic version follows the visually rhythmic line-stanza pattern of "Jingle Bells," while at the same time matching up with the notes of the melody. These "factual translations" (e.g., times tables) are fun to cook up, but the translation word/name stress patterns should match those of the original. Wáshingtón and Jéffersón , for example, match Jíngle Bélls perfectly , McKínley and Buchánan do not .

A) Jingle-Bells framework

[ verse ] Dáshing thróugh the snów

in a óne horse ópen sléigh

ó'er the fíelds we gó

láughing áll the wáy

Bells on bobtail ring

máking spírits bríght . 

What fún it ís to ríde and síng

a sléighing sóng toníght .

[ chorus ] Oh, Jíngle Bélls , Jíngle Bélls ,

Jíngle áll the wáy .

Óh , what fún it ís to ríde

on a óne horse ópen sléigh

Oh, Jíngle Bélls , Jíngle Bélls ,

Jíngle áll the wáy .

Óh , what fún it ís to ríde

on a óne horse ópen sléigh

***

B) American Presidents

[ verse ] First George Washington.

It's John Ádams thén we sée .

Thómas Jéffersón ,

Thén James Mádisón .

Jámes Monróe , then Jóhn

Quíncy Ádams néxt .

Ándrew Jáckson fróm the wést ,

Van Búren , Hárrisón .

[ chorus ] It's Tÿler , Pólk , Fíllmore , tóo ,

Táylor , Fránklin Píerce ,

Jámes Buchánan , Líncoln's béard ,

With a Cívil Wár so fíerce .

Oh, Présidénts , Présidénts ,

Hów can wé go wróng ?

Ít's so gréat to kéep them stráight

With a présidéntial sóng .

***

[ verse ] Jóhnson , Gránt , and Háyes ,

We have Gárfield , Árthur , thén

Clévelánd , Hárrisón ,

Cléveland ónce agáin .

Nów McKínley cómes ,

Róosevélt and Táft ,

With Wílson , Hárding , Cóolidge , Hérbert

Hóover , Róosevélt .

[ chorus ] It's Trúman , Dwíght , Éisenhówer ,

Kénnedÿ and Jóhn-són .

Níxon , Fórd , and Cárter , too, Rónald

Réagan , Búsh , and Clín-tón .

Óne more Búsh . Présidénts !

Hów can wé go wróng .

Ít's so gréat to kéep them stráight

With a présidéntial sóng .