Poetry Recitation Reflection

1. In the formal oral presentation of my poem, The Loveliest of Trees by A.E. Housman, my strength in responding to the needs of the audience was smoothly combining the visual powerpoint of the cherry trees with my speaking. 

Including the the visual powerpoint of cherry trees in the background gave the audience something they can visualize when I was speaking. It gave the poem a bit more meaning because the listeners could then imagine actually walking through those trees they saw, and they could actually comprehend the metaphor of the cherry "hung with snow". I also included numerous photos of cherry trees one after another  to convey to the audience the symbol of the springs going by over time. 

I also practiced he rate of my speaking in coordination with the powerpoint so that despite my back facing the screen, I could end together with my powerpoint. 

Where I could improve in responding to the needs of the audience, is in my timing. I could take a longer pause in between stanzas to show the shift (from enjoying the beautiful trees, to the realization of time passing, to his appreciation of the trees in what time he has left) in the poem. 

2.In the formal oral presentation my strengths were speaking clearly, and having  a suitable tone for my poem. My poem, The Loveliest of Trees, is about a man pondering about life and how quickly it passes by. It carries a calm, gentle mood that I tried to display through the tone of my voice. 

To improve my oral presentation, I could increase my volume because although I want to maintain the soft tender tone of this poem, I need to project it to the back of the class as well. Of course I could also slow down my pace a bit more to give more emphasis on each line, each word of the piece. It was difficult to concentrate on slowing down my pace when I wanted to keep the poem flowing, and despite all of the practicing in front of group members and family, speaking so very slowly is still a skill that I am not used to. 

3.In the formal oral presentation my strengths in controlling the body were looking up and having good posture. I made sure to be standing tall, straight and  relatively still, with my hands folded in front of me--further emphasizing the gentleness of this poem. I looked up and to the back of the room so that I would be speaking to the entire audience. In addition, by looking up and far away it represents the pondering of life in the poem. I also incorporated varied facial expressions while reading. While saying the lines in the second stanza, "..and take from seventy years a score, it only leaves me fifty more", I portrayed the face of actually doing math and coming to that realization.

I could improve upon adding more hand gestures while speaking. For example gesturing towards the bloom that is hung on imaginary cherry trees. I could also add a tiny bit of movement, by walking around the room to represent the roaming Housman speaks of in the poem, without distracting too much from what I am saying.

Recitation Planning

Loveliest of Trees       —                                                      A.E. Housman

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.


I chose the poem "The Loveliest of Trees" by A.E. Housman to recite. 
I love the idea behind this poem. Ever since I turned 18 I sort of hit a realization that life was flying by, that I was now, at least legally, an adult. I try to be reminded each day that life and time are precious and I need to make the most of it, and never waste a heartbeat. I learned that Housman's mother died when he was at the young age of 12. This could have also been an inspiration for his poem showing him how quickly life passes. 

Techniques for memorization that I will use is separation of stanzas so that I memorize small bits and then later compile them into the complete poem. I will also try adding one line at a time while reciting so that I remember both the previous lines and the new line. 
To perform this I plan on having a gentle ( yet still clearly audible) tone and perhaps including a prop of a miniature cherry tree so that I have it to direct my attention towards while speaking about the cherry tree. I'm both excited and a bit nervous because I tend to get a little uncomfortable when the spotlight is on me. I will simply practice a lot and in front of my roommate in order to become more comfortable speaking publicly.

Where I Come From--Reflection

1.                    Compare the ways in which the final version of your poem is more effective (or, perhaps, less effective) than your earlier draft. Make sure to consider purpose, audience, argument, evidence, and language conventions.

The final version of my poem is more effective than my earlier draft because it uses more of the "show not tell" strategy. I included more sensory details that appeals to multiple senses rather than simply visual. For example, "the inhaling of the crisp clean air" along with the various smells that I described from the restaurants. That entire section of the restaurants was added in the final draft to. I think that including the restaurants improved my poem because the diversity of the restaurants symbolized the diversity of my town, and it also gave the readers insight into the types of semi-unique stores that are in my town.

2.                    Explain how your poem uses more than words to achieve your purposes. Consider line breaks, stanzas, shape of the poem, layout on your printed copy, layout on your Wordpress blog, design, headers, images, fonts, color and other graphic elements.

My poem uses more than words to achieve my purpose by organizing the design for the most effective way to convey my poem to the reader. I spaced the lines between the questions and then the paragraphs describing my town in order to clarify that there were two seperate voices. When describing Northwestern's place in Evanston, I put the last word of the stanza "more" on the next line alone in order to emphasis it and to show that there could be more things continuing the list.  I included the picture of the lighthouse and the City of Evanston on my blog, because that is our logo that I proudly wore as a lifeguard for two summers.

3.                    Describe the processes you have used effectively in composing the final draft that you believe are worth repeating when you do another project. Consider planning, studying examples of poetry, the Blank Verse Collaboration exercise, collaboration with peers, feedback from the instructor, using the CommLab, revision techniques, editing techniques, and the timing of your drafts.

Processes I have used effectively in this project in order to compose my final draft are brainstorming, reading example poems, editing, peer editing, listening to the edits on my classmates' poems, and instructor feedback. All of these stages were critical in making my piece how it is today. The brainstorming and editing on my own was my own independent thinking I used to come up with my poem. I think that reading example poems and listening to the edits on my classmates' poems gave me ideas on how to create my poem/alter it based on the other poems I saw, helping me indirectly. I think that the instructor feedback and peer editing were ways that my poem could be directly criticized constructively. Together these strategies were very helpful in finishing my final piece!

Extra Credit:CULC Art Crawl

Beth and I in front of the dinosaur and coat

This event was big, with a lot of artwork spread without the Clough. I visited each floor and viewed the various pieces. On the third floor, the big dinosaur display and the coat were the first things I noticed after walking up the staircase. The coat seemed a bit random to me until I read the description to know what the story was behind it. I still find the story of the coat a bit strange because I don't understand why anyone would think it would be a good idea to put LED lights in the coat to begin with, but I'm glad that the creator of the project was able to improve the coat by taking out the LED lights on her own and add an inner layer to the coat.

LED coat

Jurassic UrRu

I got to actually meet the artist who created the dinosaur sculpture above. She was standing nearby, anxious to hear what people's opinions of her work were. She explained that this dinosaur may have been related to the more familiar Stegosaurus. She spoke about how she made it with paper mache underneath the fur and that she was going to put a camera lens in the eye, and display it in her house. It was nice to meet her and speak to her to realize how much work she put into her project and all of the plans she had for it.

The display of photography was very impressive to me. I love photography and wish that I had put in a photo for the art crawl. I admired a lot of the photos, and it was interesting to see the work of a friend of mine who had two pieces on display. 

photo of "Dude at the Beach"

I really liked the above photo because of how beautiful it was and because how natural and un-posed it was. The "little dude" just happened to walk in front of the shot, but it ended up making the photo, adding a nice thought of pondering life in the piece.

Extra Credit:Student View Reception

! Extra Credit / Poetry@Tech make-up event. Student View & Poetry Posters – Art Gallery Reception. (Part of the TechArts Festival). Ferst Center for the Arts. Georgia Tech student artwork and screening of student videos. Free. Receive up to 5 points (based on quality of work) for attending the event and writing a review on your blog. Include a photo of yourself at the event as a “virtual check-in.” Include photos and captions for the work you describe in your review. BLOG ENTRY: (Title: “Extra Credit: Student View Reception”). Write a review of the event (400+ words). Back up your ideas with specific examples.

This event was a nice, organized reception. It wasn't too large and crowded so it gave me a more intimate experience. I was really impressed with the moving pictures made. The quality of art was impressive. I have taken a media arts class in the past and created a motion picture out of numerous drawings, and I remember that being a very difficult process!
 I also think that the motion pictures greatly supplemented the poems. I enjoyed having a multimodal experience, where I could see, hear, and read the poem (rather than only reading the words) when listening to the pieces.
The last clip of the Langston Hughes video of his poem "Life is Fine", was my favorite. I have read that poem in the past, but hearing and seeing a movie illustration of it made the poem so much clearer to me. I also liked the shorter video clips that alternated moods-- sometimes humorous and sometimes thought-provoking.
Aside from the movie clips, the still art projects were also impressive. One that caught my attention was the canvas of "My Papa's Waltz" because we just finished reading that one in class. Visually he kept the layout of the poem's text neat and easy to read, yet still displayed the poem in a fitting way with the jumbled dancing shoes and adding the subtle crooked z at the end of "Waltz", and his crooked name.

My Papa's Waltz display

I also enjoyed the illustration for the poem "Evening Conversation" by Allan Johnston. It was clever and suiting for there to be clocks falling fast out of a box as if a person was desperately searching for the time that has past. 

Evening Conversation display

The Vanishing of the Bees film poster also grabbed my attention. I had never heard of the film, Vanishing of the Bees, but once I read the description, I saw the intentional planning behind the design of the poster. I think that the mirror image of the bee that looks so similar to the plane, was enough of an attention grabber for me to want to read the description and find out the meaning behind this piece. Once I read the information and learned that the film was about how bees are vanishing due to pollution and other environmental damage, I was even more interested because the health of our environment is a cause that is very important to me.

Vanishing of the Bees film poster

I was impressed by the professionalism in all of the pieces that were on display. Now after seeing these pieces of work, I am eager to see how my future projects will turn out!