Ask your students to bring a poem they appreciate. They can bring their own poems or the work of a poet they enjoy.
Objective: To understand poetry as both a written and oral genre, and some of the challenges to reading poetry out loud.
Hand out copies of the poem "Ode to Planetarium" by Marcella Durand. Then, ask students to read the poem silently. When they are finished, they should jot down a few thoughts as to meaning or construction.
Play the recording of the poem from the Poetry Out Loud collection. How does hearing the poem alter their understanding? Were they surprised by any aspect of the poem? What information is lost, and what is gained? How might the poet have considered the performance aspect of the poem while writing it?
Related Resources
PennSound, Edited by Chris Mustazza, Christopher J. Martin and Zach Carduner., 2005.
Objective: To understand the impact of space and body in poetry.
Play two videos for your students: Sara Brickman's "Talking Shit to Sadness", performed at the 2015 National Poetry Slam, and Joshua Bennett's "Tamara's Ode," performed at the White House. How do these performers use their bodies to convey meaning? How does venue influence the reading? How might the poet modulate their performance in response to a certain audience?
