Evaluation of a Poetry Reading Essay

I enjoyed "Surfing Mr Petrovic" very much. This is an important point in teaching English and encouraging children to read for enjoyment. It is unlikely that a teacher can inspire or encourage children to read if the teacher cannot display genuine enthusiasm for the text they are promoting (Elements of an English Program: Sharing Texts, 2007).

Richard Blanco is a Cuban- American poet who was given the oppurunity to write an inaugaration poem for Barack Obama's second swearing-in. He wrote a poem titled "One Today" that praised the good and unique things about the United States and also the everyday people who's daily routines help to make America the proud country that it is.

Lorna Dee Cervantes' poem, “Poema para los Californios Muertos” (“Poem for the Dead Californios”), is a commentary on what happened to the original inhabitants of California when California was still Mexico, and an address to the speaker's dead ancestors. Utilizing a unique dynamic, consistently alternating between Spanish and English, Cervantes accurately represents the fear, hatred, and humility experienced by the “Californios” through rhythm, arrangement, tone, and most importantly, through use of language.

Whenever he had a part where he felt his relationship was in trouble, he would change his voice to the universal “guy going through relationship crisis” voice. You would here is voice quake and soften when his relationship seemed to be at stake. The one part where I think he could have done better is when he first finds out that his girlfriend is cheating on him with a high school student. He seemed too soft spoken when confronting Agnes and Chuck. If I found out my girlfriend was cheating on me with some square I would have been furious and not so passive in voice in the situation. I understand that his script made him speak like that, but I think he definitely could have put a whole lot more anger in his voice in that

In this essay I am going to compare and contrast ‘When we two parted’ a poem of George Gordon, Lord Byron’s written in 1815 and Letitia Elizabeth Landon’s ‘Love’s last lesson’ written in c1838, both poets are British and of the romantic period.

I loved this episode of the series because of its detail and portrayal of John Adams not only as a hero, but also as an average family man. I never had a moment of boredom watching this because I am extremely interested in this era of United States History. John Adams and his role in American independence is one of my favorite things, which is exactly why I chose this to watch.

On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City is an emotionally provocative poem by the Native American Indian writer, Sherman Alexie. It describes a train journey from Boston to New York City in which an elderly white woman excitedly points out historical sites to her fellow passenger, a younger Native American Indian. The poem demonstrates how narrow minded the American Indian finds the white American culture; for, it does not go beyond any history prior to their coming to America. The white woman is only able to have a limited understanding of her surroundings;

The Poem “Introduction to Poetry” is by Billy Collins, an English poet, and it is about how teachers often force students to over-analyze poetry and to try decipher every possible meaning portrayed throughout the poem rather than allowing the students to form their own interpretation of the poem based on their own experiences.

The drums came in, reverberating through the amphitheater before Tyler sang his first note of the eighteen song setlist and bright, luminous lights struck flashing over the crowd like a lightning storm. I couldn’t contain my smile and I was shaking uncontrollably at that moment; it just felt so surreal, and you can tell everyone else felt the same way. Everybody was jumping up and down, and singing along, and I watched before my eyes as the entire theatre came together and become one, all thanks to music. One of the highlights of the show was during a medley of their older songs in which they performed a part of their song “Screen”, and the entire crowd was chanting the bridge, “We’re broken people”. Twenty One Pilots’ music talks a lot about depression and different struggles, and although I’m not depressed, we all have our own personal struggles. Having music you can relate to can really help you, and this part of the show was a perfect example of that. There’s just something comforting about a crowd of people all singing about how broken they are; it can give you a sense of hope and a realization that you’re not

To begin the speech, Callebs was introduced as a member of the Cherokee Native American’s and storyteller, who also teaches survival skills. Then, Callebs took the stage and in a quiet voice, explained that he was going to turn out the lights and that all he wanted us to experience were his stories. Either my first impression of this was that he did not want us to be looking at him, or that he did not want to

Reflections Within is a non-traditional stanzaic poem made up of five stanzas containing thirty-four lines that do not form a specific metrical pattern. Rather it is supported by its thematic structure. Each of the five stanzas vary in the amount of lines that each contain. The first stanza is a sestet containing six lines. The same can be observed of the second stanza. The third stanza contains eight lines or an octave. Stanzas four and five are oddly in that their number of lines which are five and nine.

It was our last dress rehearsal, but it was open to the public so we had an audience. The play started, and I was swept into the thrill of performing; I savored every bit of laughter from the crowd. Until, it happened.

This was a fun play. The opening was a little cumbersome to get through with the quick, back and forth dialogue. The use of outside entities to push the story along versus having two famous people argue was entertaining. After reading a little history about this location, it was also neat to tie actual people, places and events together. The biggest surprise was the use of another historical figure, Elvis to interject into this play.

In the poems you have studied a recurring theme is that of ‘loss’. This can take many forms: death; identity; hope or loss of innocence

In my preparation for this essay I thought that there was going to be very little that I would learn about the elements of poetry. This is not because I am an expert and have nothing new to learn, but rather the opposite. I have never really spent the time to break down and appreciate poetry. One of the reasons I think that I haven’t spent the time on poetry is due to my reading habits. I usually read to gather information and poetry is on the other end of the spectrum. Fredrick Gruber sums this up, “Poetry tends to give general truths while history gives particular facts.” (Gruber) Having said all of this though, I did see a couple of things that I could apply to my own writing. I will first start off with some elements of poetry that I