Painting Art

Poetry: To Choose One Poem or Several?

Poetry Interpretation is an interesting event in that it is the only one that allows for a competitor to use multiple works to compose their cutting.  This could be due to the issue of length of poetry.  Poems, even some of the longer ones, might not hold a speaker through a full ten minutes.  Whatever the reason, Poetry competitors are given the unique option to either use a super long poem that can survive the ten minute time, or they can choose to use a series of related poems.  Both circumstances provide distinct pros and cons.

Full-length, LONG Poem

• PRO: Selecting a full length poem makes for a somewhat easier selection process of a piece.  Do you like that one poem?  Yes?  Well, that’s all the searching you have!  Piece acquired.  Using one, long poem can also make for simpler interpretation.  You have one piece that tells one, continuous story.  There should be a definite arch, and drive to construct your interpretation around.  You also have fairly consistent tone, rhythm, and language because all the words stem from one person.

• CON: If the piece needs to be cut for time it might be a headache if the poet uses every line to advance the poem’s message.  Cut the wrong stanza and importance could be lost.  Remove a single line and rhythm could be ruined.  Also, keeping the attention of the audience for a ten minute poem could be difficult if your energy wavers.  The tiniest lull in the poem could cause the audience to lose attention, and then when they attempt to become engaged again they may have become too lost to get back into the poem’s story.

Several Poems Spliced Together

• PRO: Selecting several poems to be read together can keep a Poetry piece exciting and energetic.  There is the constant welcome of a new voice, new story (which relates), and new atmosphere.  Plus, if someone was not fully engrossed in one of your poems they may become attached to another.  Further, the concept of being able to combine different poems gives the Poetry competitor a stronger creative license.  You can create an unique story with various patches of tales.

• CON: Of course, you can patch all these tales together to create Frankenstein’s Monster.  If the selections do not blend together well, if they are in a wacky order, or if they are just poor selections the audience will become uninterested.  There is also the constant pressure of “a new voice, new story…and new atmosphere.”  This means more interpretation and analysis, longer research hours for pieces, a harder time cutting a piece and crafting an arch, and there is the chance it might not work.  Ever.

There is no right or wrong method to creating a Poetry cutting.  It all is a matter of preference and doing what works best for your piece.  If this pro/con list has done anything it has shown that Poetry is challenging whichever the path.  The safest gamble is to select Poetry pieces you adore and want to work with.  Choose something you love, and the work will be enjoyable, the end result fantastic.

About the Author

The Forensics Community offers helpful advice, news, tournament results, articles, videos, and all things fun for the Speech and Debate community. Chat with teams across the nation. See what’s new in the world of Forensics. Choose to voice your own opinion in a blog or in Speech and Debate related polls.

And above all, have fun!

Poet Charles Simic reads from Selected Poems 1963-2003

ASL Poetry: Selected Works of Clayton Valli $50.00 A total of 21 selected works by ASL poet Dr. Clayton Valli are recited by a diversity of signers using a wide variety of styles. As ASL poetry is a fairly new medium, host Lon Kuntze guides the viewer through the hidden meanings in the poems, affording a keen understanding of the material. Through Mr. Kuntze’s narration, the viewer will gain an appreciation for how ASL poems are created and will a…

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf – Alfre Woodard, Lynn Whitfield (Broadway Theatre Archive) $13.42 The history of black women in America is told by author-performer Ntozake Shange by way of a musical “choreopoem” in this award-winning play. Among the seven characters featured are a girl from St. Louis whose secret lover, Touissaint L’Ouverture, liberated Haiti from the French; a New Orleans dancer named Sechita; and Crystal, who tries to survive the wrath of her abusive husband. With Alfre Wood…

ASL Poetry: Selected Works of Clayton Valli $27.00 …

John of the Cross $24.95 Here is the intriguing story of the greatest poet that Spain has ever known, in a film that has the depth and beauty of a 16th century masterpiece. Leonardo and Patti Defilippis play all the main characters, including John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, and the film also includes a cast of more than sixty extras. John’s mystical poem, The Spiritual Canticle runs as a connecting thread through t…

The Grey Manuscript: Selected Poems of Jibanananda Das TRANSLATED FROM THE BENGALI BY KALYAN RAY, ISBN# 81-9623-017-X, Binding: Hard Cover Publisher: Asia Books, Calcutta, India Date Published: 1997…

Shu Ting: Selected Poems $2.95 Meet China’s leading woman poet through her poetry. Shu Ting’s superb lyrical voice tells the personal experiences of a generation who grew up during the Cultural Revolution….

E B Browning Selected Poems $4.50 E. B. Browing (1806-1861) Elizabeth’s most famous poem: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways….

Selected Poems of Oscar Wilde This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery….

The 20th-Century Children’s Book Treasury: Picture Books and Stories to Read Aloud $19.95 Unparalleled in scope and quality and designed for reading aloud and sharing, this splendid anthology brings together some of the mostmemorable and beloved children s books of our time. Here are classicssuch as Madeline and Curious George contemporary bestsellers such as Guess How Much I Love You and The Stinky Cheese Man Caldecott Medal winners such as Make Way for Ducklings and Where the Wild Th…

Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe $12.95 Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, 1966 BCE. Hardcover with dust jacket, 821 pages, published by Doubleday & Company….