# Recitation

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Act of reciting or formal reading

For the racehorse, see [Recitation (horse)](/source/Recitation_(horse)).

A **recitation** in a general sense is the act of [reciting](/source/Narrative) from memory, or a formal [reading of verse](/source/Poetry_reading) or other writing before an audience.[1][2]

**Public recitation** is the act of reciting a work of writing before an audience.

## Academic recitation

[Caesar](/source/Julius_Caesar), *[Bellum Gallicum](/source/Commentarii_de_Bello_Gallico)* 1,1, spoken by a German, exaggerated to hear the stressed syllables.

In academia, recitation is a presentation made by a student to demonstrate knowledge of a subject or to provide instruction to others.[3] In some [academic institutions](/source/Academic_institution) the term is used for a presentation by a [teaching assistant](/source/Teaching_assistant) or instructor, under the guidance of a senior [faculty](/source/Faculty_(teaching_staff)) member, that supplements course materials. In recitations that supplement lectures, the leader will often review the lecture, expand on the concepts, and carry on a discussion with the [students](/source/Student).[4][5]

In its most basic form, a student would recite verbatim poems or essays of others,[6] either to the teacher or tutor directly, or in front of a class or body of assembled students.

In classes involving [mathematics](/source/Mathematics) and [engineering](/source/Engineering), a recitation is often used as the vehicle to perform derivations or solve problems similar to those assigned to the students.[7]

Scientific classes, such as biology, chemistry, and physics, often employ the use of recitation sections to help students clarify subject matter that was either not fully understood or inadequately addressed in the limited time of lecture. These recitation sections may be conducted by the professor or a student teaching assistant. These sections provide students with an opportunity to receive additional instruction on confusing subject matter or receive personal assistance with problems or questions assigned as homework in the lecture section.[8] Some universities may require attendance at regularly scheduled recitation sections in addition to any required labs.[9] Recitations may also provide students with additional opportunities for receiving grades for the lecture portion of the course. Despite mandatory attendance and additional time spent in the classroom, these sections usually do not count towards university credits required for graduation, but may significantly increase a student's ability to understand important concepts required to pass the course.

## Religious recitation

Recitations of holy scriptures and prayers are common in the liturgies of [Abrahamic religions](/source/Abrahamic_religions).[10][11][12][13]

### Islam

Main article: [Tajwid](/source/Tajwid)

*[Quran](/source/Quran)* literally means "recitation".[14][15] The [1924 Cairo Quran](/source/1924_Cairo_Quran), the Quran that is in "general use" throughout almost all the Muslim world today, is based on the "[Ḥafṣ](/source/%E1%B8%A4af%E1%B9%A3)" version ("[qira'at](/source/Qira'at)") based on [ʻAsim's recitation](/source/%CA%BBAsim's_recitation), the 8th-century [recitation](/source/Recitation_in_Islam) of Kufa.[16] [۞](/source/%DB%9E)[17] It uses a system of additional symbols and an elaborate system of [modified vowel-signs](/source/Arabic_vowel_diacritics) and for minute details, not identical to any older system.[18]

## Recitation as a performing art

A 19th-century booklet of recitations

Recitation is practiced as a performing art especially in Bangladesh and India. Nowadays it is a popular art form in Bengal. The reciters recite Bengali poems on stage and electronic media. Shambhu Mitra, Kazi Sabyasachi, Pradeep Ghosh, [Partha Ghosh](/source/Partha_Ghosh), [Gouri Ghosh](/source/Gouri_Ghosh), Utpal Kundu are great reciters from West Bengal. Reciters like Samiran Sanyal, [Bratati Bandyopadhyay](/source/Bratati_Bandyopadhyay), Bijoylakshmi Burman, Pinaki Chattopadhyay, Sutapa Bandyopadhyay, Urmimala Basu, Samya Karpha to name a few, are contributing significantly in this field. There are many such organizations of recitation, with most located in Bangladesh.

It was often popular for a poet to recite his or her newly created poetry to an audience. In the early twentieth century, recitation developed into an autonomous art form.

[Recitationes](/source/Recitationes) were a common way for Roman poets to test and publicize their works.

### Recitation to music

Accompanied recitations of poetry or dramatic texts, most often for spoken voice and piano, became very popular in nineteenth century Europe as an after dinner entertainment.[19] Jacqueline Waeber has explored how, during the 19th century and particularly in Germany, poetic recitation became increasingly 'musicalized' by the addition of musical accompaniments for the Lied and the musical melodrama, as part of a search for new declamatory styles.[20]

The genre was often looked down on as something for authors and composers of lesser stature, though there are examples by [Robert Schumann](/source/Robert_Schumann) (*Ballads for Declaration*, 1850s),[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] [Richard Strauss](/source/Richard_Strauss) (*[Enoch Arden](/source/Enoch_Arden_(Strauss))*, 1897) and [Max von Schillings](/source/Max_von_Schillings) (*Das Hexenlied*, 1904).[21] The English composer [Stanley Hawley](/source/Stanley_Hawley) made many such settings, some of which were performed at the first season (1895) of the [Henry Wood Proms](/source/BBC_Proms) in London.[22] His friend [Lena Ashwell](/source/Lena_Ashwell) was often the performer.[23]

*[Facade, an entertainment](/source/Fa%C3%A7ade_(entertainment))*, poems by [Edith Sitwell](/source/Edith_Sitwell), music by [William Walton](/source/William_Walton) is a series of poems which are recited (through a [megaphone](/source/Megaphone)) over an instrumental accompaniment. The speaker (or speakers) declaim in notated rhythm. It was first performed in 1922.[24]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["recitation"](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/recitation). *CollinsDictionary.com* (11th ed.). Collins English Dictionary. Retrieved December 7, 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** "Recitation". *[Collins COBUILD Advanced Dictionary](/source/Collins_COBUILD_Advanced_Dictionary)* (New Digital ed.). HarperCollins Publishers. 2008.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Leading Recitation - UCAT"](https://web.archive.org/web/20210125213953/https://ucat.osu.edu/bookshelf/teaching-topics/planning-a-class-session/leading-recitation/). *ucat.osu.edu*. Archived from [the original](https://ucat.osu.edu/bookshelf/teaching-topics/planning-a-class-session/leading-recitation/) on 2021-01-25. Retrieved 2018-07-18.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Optimizing Recitations | MIT Office of Undergraduate Advising and Academic Programming"](http://uaap.mit.edu/tutoring-support/study-tips/maximizing-lectures-recitation/optimizing-recitations). *uaap.mit.edu*. Retrieved 2018-07-18.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Schaedel, Sydney. ["Recitations are a balancing act for students and professors"](http://www.thedp.com/article/2015/09/recitations-a-balancing-act-for-students-and-professors). Retrieved 2018-07-18.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Pierpont, John (1832) "Preface" *The American first class book, or, Exercises in reading and recitation* Carter, Hendee & Co., Boston, Massachusetts, [pages 3-6](https://books.google.com/books?id=9noSAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA3) [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [12151137](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/12151137)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["The Advantages of Recitations in Large Lecture Courses"](https://danieltakeshi.github.io/2014/12/27/the-advantage-of-recitations-in-large-lecture-courses/). *danieltakeshi.github.io*. Retrieved 2018-07-18.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["College Courses and Time Management"](https://aschonors.osu.edu/preorient/au-preview-2014/classroom/courses-and-time). *ASC Honors*. 2015-04-09. Retrieved 2018-07-18.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Registration - Academic Advising Program"](https://advising.unc.edu/for-families/courses-and-schedules/registration/). *Academic Advising Program*. Retrieved 2018-07-18.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Kuipers, Cornelius (1944) "Preface" *Christian dialogs and recitations: dialogs, recitations, readings, pageants* Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, page 1 and following, [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [9054621](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/9054621)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Denny_11-0)** Denny, Frederick Mathewson (1989) ["*Qur’ān* Recitation: A Tradition of Oral Performance and Transmission"](http://journal.oraltradition.org/files/articles/4i-ii/2_Denny.pdf) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20171202101916/http://journal.oraltradition.org/files/articles/4i-ii/2_Denny.pdf) 2017-12-02 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) *Oral Tradition* 4(1/2): pp. 5-26, page 1

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** "Encounters with Christ" [page 247](https://books.google.com/books?id=rKkJs-KHCakC&pg=PA247) *In* [McGinn, Bernard](/source/Bernard_McGinn_(theologian)) (2006) *The essential writings of Christian mysticism* Modern Library, New York, pp. 246-250, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-8129-7421-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8129-7421-2)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** Martin, Richard (2005). "Tilāwah". In Jones, Linsay (ed.). *Encyclopedia of Religion*. Vol. 13 (2nd ed.). [Detroit](/source/Detroit): Macmillan Reference. p. 9200. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-02-865982-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-02-865982-1).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Cambridge dictionary: [koran](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/the-koran)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Cambridge dictionary: [quran](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/the-qur-an?q=qur%27an)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-GBRRCQ2008:74_16-0)** [Böwering, "Recent Research on the Construction of the Quran", 2008](#GBRRCQ2008): p. 74

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** [Q2:26](/source/Q2%3A26) [Commences with ۞](https://quran.com/2?translations=20) (1/199) (*[rubʿ al-ḥizb](/source/Rub%CA%BF_al-%E1%B8%A5izb)*), an Islamic symbol

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** Stefan Wild, "Reading" *The Quran: an Encyclopedia*, [Routledge](/source/Routledge)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** Kimber, Marian Wilson (2001). ["Elocution and Music"](https://doi-org.lonlib.idm.oclc.org/10.1093/omo/9781561592630.013.90000380170). *Grove Music Online*. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1093/omo](https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fomo).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** Jacqueline Waeber. *[Speaking German Musically: Poetic Recitation in Central Europe, 1760-1820](https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781837652143/speaking-german-musically-poetic-recitation-in-central-europe-1760-1820/#generate-pdf)* (2025)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** [Jeremy Siepmann, *The Piano* (1998), p. 28](https://books.google.com/books?id=TqtmlzCDzucC&dq=%22speaker+and+piano%22&pg=PP32)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-22)** [BBC Proms performance archive](https://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/events/works/8e20840d-5ba8-4cb3-bf12-744a32314e74)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-23)** Margaret Leask. [*Lena Ashwell: Actress, Patriot, Pioneer* (2012)](https://books.google.com/books?id=Wjivz2gVzZ0C&dq=%22stanley+Hawley%22&pg=PT10)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-24)** Latham, Alison, ed. (2011). *The Oxford Companion to Music*.

## Further reading

- Jahandarie, Khosrow (1996) *Spoken and Written Discourse: a multi-disciplinary perspective* Ablex/Greenwood, Stamford, Connecticut, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [1-56750-426-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1-56750-426-4)

- Warner, Charles Dudley (1899) "School or Entertainment Recitations" *Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern* J. A. Hill, New York, p. cdlxxx

## External links

- Media related to [Recitations in Latin](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Recitations_in_Latin) at Wikimedia Commons

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