Poetry Out Loud-What Should I Do?

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Every year in high school so far I've had to participate in poetry out loud for english, and I really don't like it. I don't get poetry in the way you have to for the assignment, and I'm horrible at acting. People usually laugh at my performance because its so bad.

This is my last year of high school and I have to do it again, but at this point I'm so traumatized by this assignment that I'm really considering taking a 0 instead of subjecting myself to this again. (For anyone wondering I am undiagnosed and being seen for a diagnosis, but my insurance is taking for EVER to approve the appointments. So I get no accomodations at school.)

If it's any consolation the vast majority of the human race don't get poetry.

Are you being asked to read it and put feeling in to it?

Why don't you read it straight? Less embarrassing that way.

Yes, I have to put feeling into it.

And I would like to read it straight, but we have practice performances and the teachers get mad if we just read it.

Here are a few pointers about the oral recitation of poetry.

1. Read the poem slowly. Most adolescents speak rapidly, and a nervous reader will tend to do the same in order to get the reading over with. Reading a poem slowly is the best way to ensure that the poem will be read clearly and understood by its listeners. Learning to read a poem slowly will not just make the poem easier to hear; it will underscore the importance in poetry of each and every word. A poem cannot be read too slowly, and a good way for a reader to set an easy pace is to pause for a few seconds between the title and the poem's first line.

2. Read in a normal, relaxed tone of voice. It is not necessary to give any of these poems a dramatic reading as if from a stage. The poems selected are mostly written in a natural, colloquial style and should be read that way. Let the words of the poem do the work. Just speak clearly and slowly.

3. Obviously, poems come in lines, but pausing at the end of every line will create a choppy effect and interrupt the flow of the poem's sense. Readers should pause only where there is punctuation, just as you would when reading prose, only more slowly.

4. Use a dictionary to look up unfamiliar words and hard-to-pronounce words. To read with conviction, a reader needs to know at least the dictionary sense of every word. In some cases, a reader might want to write out a word phonetically as a reminder of how it should sound. It should be emphasized that learning to read a poem out loud is a way of coming to a full understanding of that poem, perhaps a better way than writing a paper on the subject.

Source: Poetry 180 / A Poem a Day for American High Schools

Do you want mad teachers or laughing other students? I'd go with mad teacher... although I'm the kind of sociopath who has no respect for authority so... maybe don't listen to me.

I hate what passes for poetry nowadays. I'm a traditionalist where poetry is concerned.

As to your assignment, I suggest finding a piece that you actually like. It will make recitation less miserable.

If you are serious about taking a zero, I suggest talking privately with your teacher and explaining how you feel. Ask if there is ANY other assignment that you could substitute. You don't need to invoke a disability, but could rather mention how much you've hated this assignment in previous years. I would think most teachers would respond well to such a request (although you know your teacher better than I do).

If you have complete freedom to choose any poem at all, you could try to get away with Croft by Stevie Smith


Croft.

Aloft
in the loft
sits Croft
he is
soft.

Or She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron, first rate poetry that just works, and it is short.

I love that poem! (Like I said above, I'm a traditionalist.)

My poem has to be at least 10 lines and from the official poetryoutloud.org website. And I've spent a long time looking for a poem that I liked but none of them are interesting.

I had to pick something for an in class assignment, so right now I have "oh antic God" as my poem.

I looked through the list of poems in Poetry Out Loud and was very disappointed because one of my favorite poets Sylvia Plath was not included. I looked at the poem "Oh Antic God", not a bad pick but I am a bit on the wild side. So I scanned a few poems on the list and came up with

"Ode to the Electric Fish that Eat Only the Tails of Other Electric Fish" by Thomas Lux

It is more like a short monologue than a poem. In one way I cannot make any sense out of the poem but in a way that is good because no one else will either. It probably has an inner meaning like bullying and recovering from bullying. Maybe it means that in a world of "predator vs. prey" an eel is special because it doesn't kill its prey but only eats the tail so that the eel can live and grow it back again.

Ode to the Electric Fish that Eat Only the Tails of Other Electric Fish

So I guess if you hate reading poetry out loud, you might have some fun with it.

Maybe the point of the poem can be summed up by
"No Fish Dies"