re ‧ ci ‧ ta ‧ tion /ˌresəˈteɪʃ ə n, ˌresɪˈteɪʃ ə n/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable and countable]
1 . an act of saying a poem, piece of literature etc that you have learned, for people to listen to:
recitations from the great poets
2 . a spoken description of an event or a series of events
recitation of
He went into a recitation of his life from the earliest years.