Poetry Out Loud: My Poem

For poetry Out Loud I chose the Poem "A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky" by Lewis Carroll. This poem starts with the image of a boat, lazily floating down a body of water. It goes on to say that three children are eager to hear a story. Memories fade and die as time passes, warm July is overtaken by the frosts of autumn. The deeper meaning the poem could be that the story of Alice in Wonderland (also written by Carroll) is being told to the children and they escape to the mystical fairy land. Alice is as intangible character who is always in his mind, but has never been seen in real life. The story is told to the children (possible Carroll's children) and they are swept into it as time floats dreamily on. The passing of time is shown throughout the poem as a boat, a boat that glides on forever.
This poem is so beautiful and I love the way the language flows together so gracefully. I chose this poem because the metaphor of the boat caught my attention. Having been on a crew team this summer, there have been countless times that my own boat glided onward in the golden light of July, while I pondered deep thoughts. The peaceful silence of the water is perfect for thinking and wondering. This lovely language is so serene and captures the image of time perfectly.
I love this poem and hope to capture its meaning during my recitation. The stanzas are written in lines of three, which makes reciting it somewhat awkward and not flow as well. I will make sure to have good posture and annunciation while I recite. Being relaxed and well practiced will help my words flow and have good rhythm. These elements are very important when reciting poetry and I will be sure to do my best.

Poetry Out Loud

Part One:
1. Revenge-Latitia Elizabeth Landon
2. Another Feeling-Ruth Stone
3. Onions-William Matthews
4. On a Drop of Dew-Andrew Marvell, Part for the Whole-Robert Francis

Part Two:
Of the five poems I read, the ones I liked were "On a Drop of Dew" and "Part for the Whole". "On a Drop of Dew" uses beautiful language to show the image of a tiny drop of dew, dropped from the open sky. It was amazing how the poet used so much figurative language to describe such a simple thing. One poem I did not like was "Another Feeling". This poem was not as beautiful as the others and used the image of a pig being captured. It was much more somber and dark than the others and was not as enjoyable to read. If I had to choose one of these poems I would chose "On a Drop of Dew". I felt that this poem flowed beautifully and used the image of the drop of dew to capture the emotions of humans. It was described as a tear from the skies.

Part Three:
Physical Presence and Accuracy will be the easiest for me because I have a good memory and will be able to memorize my poem perfectly. I also will be able to physically show my connection to the poem through my good posture and confidence. I might have the most trouble with Dramatic Appropriateness and Evidence of Understanding. I might have trouble knowing when to be more or less dramatic when reciting or how to communicate understanding.

Part Four:
Stanley Andrew Jackson-"Writ on the Steps of Puerto Rican Harlem" Gregory Corso
This was a successful recitation because Jackson used dramatization and hand motions to communicate his understanding of the poem.
Shawntay A. Henry-"Frederick Douglass" Robert E. Hayden
This recitation was also successful because she was very articulate and paced the entire poem.

Part Five:
I hope the competition will be layed-back and not pressuring. I think I will do a fine job with the poem I'm going to recite. I plan on reciting "A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky" by Lewis Carroll. This is a beautiful piece about a tiny boat floating endlessly on down a stream. I thought the website did a great job of providing resources and guidelines for the competition and it made everything very clear for the competitors.