Oral reading helps children with pronunciation and learning new words. Saying the words orally, allows the child to hear what (s)he's saying and let the other children and teacher correct him/her.
When one reads to inform, to instruct, to entertain, or to inspire another, he is engaged in a social situation. The oral reader enters into a shared experience with his listener and, to some extent, with the author of the material being shared.
These poets' general adherence to standard poetic forms, rhythm, meter, and rhyme made their poetry especially suitable for memorization and recitation.