Keeping a Commonplace

I’ve been writing down quotes and passages since I was a kid, but a few years ago I learned that there was a term for this practice- keeping a commonplace. The idea is that you write down beautiful quotes and passages in a common place, so they’re easy to find and revisit.

The History

This practice is ancient, dating back to early monasteries. When a person entered into the monastic order, they would surrender their earthly possessions as well as any claims to land, title, or inheritance. A monk’s only personal possession would be his notebook- his commonplace.

Consider for a moment the time, energy, and resources required to make paper in the middle ages. Now sew that paper into a little journal and you have an idea of how precious this notebook would be. When you wrote in it, you would write in small, neat script, seeking to fit as much as possible into your notebook.

Likewise, books were scarce. The printing press had not yet been invented, so manuscripts would have to be copied by hand. Monasteries had whole rooms devoted to this practice- scriptoriums.

When a visitor came to the monastery, he might bring a book to share. The resident monks would copy passages from his book into their commonplaces.

Now imagine that the visitor had also been to other monasteries across the region. Perhaps he had been given access to other books in his travels, from which he had copied passages into his own commonplace. He might then share his commonplace with others, so that they might copy the passages from his book into their own.

You get the idea- passages of writing considered beautiful and wise would be spread far and wide. These personal notebooks would record the writings of the church fathers as well as pagan philosophers and even classical writings. They became a sort of anthology. Metaphorically, you could say each book was a bouquet of beautiful flowers.

On the Cafe Schole podcast, Dr. Christopher Perrin talks about a commonplace as a florilegium. Literally, the Latin translates to “a gathering of flowers”. The idea is that these commonplace notebooks were a tiny garden of sorts. As a bee flies around collecting pollen from different sources, he returns to his hive where that pollen is transformed into honey. Isn’t that a beautiful image?

Today

Its easy to forget the value of books, as they are so easily available today. Learning to choose the best books, and writing down the quotes and passages from them is a practice that’s worth cultivating, particularly in an age that is so full of distraction.

Like the monks, I always try to keep a notebook on hand. As I come across words I find inspiring, I record them. This notebook has notes from sermons, passages from books I’m reading, ideas from classes and podcasts, and even quotes I’ve discovered when out and about. Later, I’ll transfer the words of the things that I still find valuable into a more systematized collection. There isn’t one way to keep a commonplace, but the best advice I can give you is simply to start.

You night be asking why I’m talking about common placing when this podcast is about books. Fair question. My answer is this, by keeping a commonplace, we become more aware of what we’re reading. And we set up ourselves up to be reflective and contemplative about what we’ve read. Quite simply, keeping a commonplace helps you get more out of your reading.

With Children

I’ve found that keeping a commonplace is also a great practice for children, I’m of the opinion that a nice long, slow on-ramp is the best approach. A formal commonplace is usually best begun around 12 years old or so, but I don’t think its ever too early to start copying beautiful passages. Teaching children to look for eloquent language, vivid imagery, memorable wisdom, and interesting ideas can start quite early. You can even choose the passages, and invite young children to participate by copying them. Many students will start keeping a commonplace at school by the time they reach the upper years, but its a practice to consider for home as well, particularly if you read aloud.

One word of warning, be careful not to make common placing work. It shouldn’t be every day, and it shouldn’t feel like drudgery. A well timed commonplace entry that is meaningful and enlightening is what we’re going for. Remember, the monks’ pages were limited. They didn’t copy everything, only the best!

I taught my 5th grade students how to keep a commonplace last year. For the first few weeks, I would point out a quote from a book we were reading or put a poem or quote up on the board after lunch. One day we were reading aloud when a student called out, “wait, wait! commonplace!” He was met with a chorus of “yeahs!” as the students put down their novels and pulled their journals out of their desks. As I looked through their notebooks later , I found even more quotes from their reading, poems they’d found on their own, as well as lyrics from the hymns we’d sung in class. They created these beautiful little books full of goodness, truth, beauty, and wisdom. The commonplaces are also going to be an amazing keepsake full of memories of that year.

If you’re a teacher or a school administrator, there are so many ways to incorporate this idea into the classroom at all levels. You’ll hear me talk a lot on this podcast about forming the affections- that wisdom and virtue comes when we love the right things. The practice of keeping a commonplace can help us to identify those things that are good, true, and beautiful. And by keeping them near to us, in a very tangible way, we can learn to love them.

At home, why not start a family commonplace where you can take turns recording those passages that are meaningful from those things you experience together? Keeping quotes, poems, prayers, and even lyrics in a commonplace might just become part of the fabric of your family, and how wonderful to be able to look back and revisit those ideas in the years to come.

Tips

Do you need a fancy pen and notebook to commonplace? No, you don’t. You can do it with whatever you have on hand. I do think there is an argument to be made, however, for using special things to create something especially beautiful. Nice paper and smooth pens help me to write neatly and carefully. Journals with special covers, either handmade or bought, help remind students that this isn’t an assignment, its a part of who we are. Words form and shape us, let’s choose the best ones and take them to heart!

Thanks for joining me, til next time, I’d like to leave you with a quote for your commonplace. This is from The Intellectual Life by A.G. Sertillanges, a Benedictine monk writing on how to be monk-like-

“How many experiences life offers us every day! We let them pass, but a deep thinker gathers them up and makes his treasure of them.”