The goal of this assignment is for you to explore the ways a particular performance of a poem effects its meaning or impact.
In order to start this exploration, you will need first either to FIND a performance, or Practice and CREATE one yourself/yourselves.
Then you will need to SHARE the performance with the rest of the class, either in person on the day of our project presentations, or by email or on your webpage beforehand.
You will also need to DESCRIBE specific aspects of the performance (such as voice, tone, pacing, venue, etc.), and ANALYZE their effects on the meaning or impact of the poem. Your description/analysis requires about 700 words written, and about 5 minutes of talk to follow-up on the presentation of your performance.
If you want to FIND a performance: The web provides a number of performances of poems in the form of sound recordings. See the Listening Booth the Academy of American Poets site, for example. And there are many other sites that include recordings of poetry. I will give you some more suggestions, but you should also search around.
To SHARE an online performance with the rest of the class, you may send the link to the class email list, or copy it to your own webpage, and then email us to preview it there. All you need to do is copy the link location from the webpage and paste it as a link in a message or on your webpage. To get to "copy link location" (or "save target location"), right click on the sound link. (So that we can access sound on the web, I will also plan to have a networked computer available in the classroom on presentation day.) For more information about working with sound on the web, go to: Zofia and Steven's Sound Tutorial
Recordings of poetry are also available on CD, DVD, cassette, and Video-cassettes. If you are going to work with one of these formats, consult with me ahead of time so that we can be sure to have the right equipment available.
If you want to CREATE a performance, be sure to practice with an audience who can provide you with some feedback about how your performance is working. You may present either a live or pre-recorded version of your performance to the class.
Any person willing to offer herself/himself
as a technology assistant will receive extra credit.