Poetry and Performance
Part 1 – Answer the following questions about “The Red Wheelbarrow” poem based on your reading of them:
- Identify the theme of the poem. How do you know this is the theme?
- Define the poetic devices (e.g., rhythm, figurative language, etc.) used in the poem. Offer at least two examples. If needed, review the List of Literary Techniques (Links to an external site.) to determine the poetic device.
- Analyze how these poetic devices contribute to the development of the poem’s message.
- Support your ideas with textual details and analyses and include paraphrased and quoted material from the primary sources (the poems themselves). For help on writing paraphrases and quotations, review the Ashford University Writing Center’s tutorial Integrating Research (Links to an external site.) and the Quoting, Paraphrasing, & Summarizing (Links to an external site.) web page.
Part 2 –
Describe your listening experience of the same poem you wrote about above. If you are unable to listen to these poems due to an auditory impairment, please reach out to your instructor for an alternative prompt for this discussion. Respond to at least two of the following questions:
- How did your hearing the poem recited aloud compare to your silent reading of it?
- Did the performance highlight certain words or phrases that were not as apparent in a silent reading?
- Did the pace change and, if so, how did it change your understanding of the poem?
- Did words have different connotations when spoken aloud, and, if so, what kinds of connotation did you associate with the poem?
- Do you think reading poetry aloud is a worthwhile endeavor when analyzing it? Why, or why not?
