Poetry Out Loud Activites

Part I: Website Cruising

1. "The Metal and The Flower" By: P.K. Page

2. " A Dream Within A Dream" By: Edgar Allan Poe

3. " Fairy Tale Logic" A.E. Stall

4. "Solitude" By: Ella Wheeler Wilcox; "The City of Sleep" By: Rudyard Kipling

Part II:What Do You Think?

Out of the five poems that I read, I thought that the poem that I liked best was Solitude. That is because inside everyone of us, there is a part of our soul that is in solitude. Although most humans don't admit, they are lonely somewhere within themselves. Only one's self can tell, not other people unless you show that on a very large scale. I didn't like the poem called " Fairy- Tale Logic" because I didn't really understand the poem and it seemed so confusing. I would probably study " Solitude" because Wilcox tells the positive side of things but then she also tells the negative side of it too. I don't know if in the eyes of others I connect with the poem, but I feel like I myself do connect with the poem. That is because, usually I would be more interested sitting in the sidelines and watch and if I do join in then I wouldn't want to join in so much. Opinion wise I would feel relax if I were alone, but I would also feel weird having no one near me. In big crowds I would rather be with someone rather than alone. But, if I needed to do something, I would do the task alone since it will be faster.

Part III:Scoring Criteria

I think that based on the " Evaluation Criteria and Tips" PDF document, I think that the two things that will be the easiest would be the ability to not act out the poem and showing that I can connect with the poem. That is because I think that I am more of a still person unless I am bored then I will move around a lot. The two things that I think will be more difficult will be the ability to not only look at the judge but at other people too. Also, the ability to speak loud because to me I already sound like I am yelling when I try to talk loud. But, people end up saying that they can barely hear me.Plus I would be worried about my accuracy when saying the words. For Example, they say that words sometimes get marked down because the recitation is wrong. For me, I feel like I have a Chinese accent so some people don't really understand what I am saying. Because to them it sounds different from what I hear myself say.

Part VI: Videos

Stanley Andrew Jackson: I thought that this poem was successful, because I could feel from his voice the tone of the poem. Also, if I were to just read the poem off something, I wouldn't understand a clue that the poem is about. But when someone actually puts emotions and feelings into the words that it give the audience a sense of what is being said.

Allison Strong: I think that Allison Strong was successful because of the way she recited the poem. Although she was a female you could hear that she was reciting off the poem as a male. It wasn't just the pitch of the voice she is using.But, the feeling that she sent out with the words she said.

Part V:Summary

After spending some time on Poetry Out Loud, I didn't think that the website would have that less. From what I imagined, I thought that there were more selections. I looked at a poem judged by the tittle and when I click to read the poem, it wasn't as good as I thought it was. Maybe it was because I didn't look deep enough to find the meaning of the poem but I didn't really like most of the poems that I looked at. I'm really nervous about the competition, because I'd get embarrassed reciting a poem in front of everyone and my voice isn't very loud. I am planning to memorize " Solitude" because I think that I can remember something better if I can relate to what it means.