Choose Stevens or Williams. A lively oral interpretation of one of the works you analyzed for Ex 1-2a. We'll start with Stevens poems.

I'd like variety in the poems that we present, so I may ask you to make a different selection if everyone chooses the same work.

Submit: An annotated copy of your poem (that is, write notes all over it), and a half-page submission note explaining some of the specific choices you made and what textual destails those choices were supposed to highlight.

Present: An oral interpreation of your selected poem. (If you choose a very short poem for Ex 1-2a, I might ask you to present two poems.)

Discuss: Take an active role in the class discussion following your presentation. I'll provide some helpful questions and prompts, if the discussion lags.

You should know the poem well, though I won't expect you to memorize it. Check the pronuciation of unfamiliar words, and be ready to guide the class in a discussion about the ideas raised in your performance. Bring it to life through your voice primarily, but also consider facial expressions, gestures, costumes, props, whatever.

For instance, for an oral interpretation of Frost's "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening," you might indicate that you decided to pause and scratch your head and slow down while saying "Whose woods these are I think I know," and then snap your fingers when saying "His house is in the village though," and shrug with a little laugh when saying "He will not see me stopping here."

A really good explanatory note would indicate how these gestures are related, and what specific emotional effect you are driving for. What emotions are coming later in the poem? How can you set the stage in the earlier parts of the poem. so that you can convey those later emotions more fully?

For instance, if you wanted to convey anxiety and danger, you might try a completely different set of cues. You might emphasize the word "think" in "Whose woods these are I think I know," and then look around you nervously for "His house is in the village though," and freeze and look trapped while saying, "He will not see me stopping here."

See: Poetry is for the Ear