Other forms: recitations
A recitation is saying a learned piece aloud from memory. A recitation of the poem, class recitation, learn it for recitation.
It was a staple of schooling for centuries and has largely gone, along with the memorising it required — the argument for it was that what you learn by heart stays available to you. In American universities a recitation is a small class alongside a lecture. Note recite; and that the Latin means to read out.
1nounrecitationSaying a learned piece aloud from memory.
“The evening ended with a recitation of a long poem that the old man knew by heart.”
recitation is a saying aloud.
Latin recitatio comes from recitare, to read out — re plus citare, to summon. Cite, excite and incite come from the same summoning.
Latin
recitatio
Middle French
récitation
English, today
recitation
Middle French récitation, from Latin recitatio, equivalent to recite + -ation.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA