As someone who fancies himself as practical man, I am somewhat hesitant (if not downright resistant) to spending chunks of free time memorizing poems which would only be used as “furniture of the mind”. IMO a better use of time and mnemonics would be to memorize great quotes or speeches. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, the great quotes by Oliver Wendell Holmes, etc.
I think it’s definitely worthwhile to memorize speeches. As soon as I have an extra free moment, I’ll post about how the methods I’m using for poems are going, because they probably apply to speeches too…
I am planning on memorizing several speeches once my current project, the memorization of a long poem, is completed. I haven’t settled on a particular speech given by a historical figure, although I have chosen to dedicate some time to several fictional character speeches from Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, notably Francisco D’Anconia’s money speech, as well as one or two of John Galt’s monologues. Spoiler alert: If you have not read this book, and plan on reading it, do not google John Galt or his speeches (if ever there was a metaphor for the proverbial red button, this would be it).
I would love to see what speeches all of you have chosen to memorize.
Regards
I did a quick search and found this list if anyone is interested:
I’m focusing on Grand Master of Memory training at the moment, but once I have a routine, I might memorize some speeches. I haven’t decided on any yet though.
I wonder if there are any good non-English speeches to memorize. That would be interesting. 
Here is a link to the great speeches of Victor Hugo (in French of course). This particular speech (Le Discours d’ouverture du Congrès de la Paix, 1849) is my favourite at the moment, as it is an anti-war speech that predicts the establishment of the European Union 103 years before the fact.
http://crdp.ac-lille.fr/sceren/hugo/congres.htm
Here are two links to one of the great speeches by Simon Bolivar, the 19th century liberator of Latin America:
Original Spanish version: Discurso de Simón Bolívar ante el Congreso de Angostura - Wikisource
English translation: Internet History Sourcebooks: Modern History
Last but not least, below you shall find Cicero’s Catiline orations, a series of addresses to the Senate of Rome, which succeeded in exposing senator Catiline’s vile intentions to bribe and murder his way to power.
The Background: Catilinarian orations - Wikipedia
The Latin Speeches: Cicero: In Catilinam I
The English Translation: Redirect Notice
Cheers!