IB/AP English: Poetry Dramatic Reading and Analysis Oral Presentation
You and a group of your peers will present a poem dramatically and offer interpretation of your reading and the poem itself. This is a useful activity in that it asks you to get acquainted with a poem on a number of levels. You need to figure out tone and mood and decide if these shift (don’t forget to use the tone glossary that I provided for you). Does the speaker shift? What is the dramatic situation/setting? What sound effects are used and to what end? For more, go to your commentary wheel. The point here is not just to vivisect and point out parts of the poem as if you are surgeons in the pit of an operating theater. Rather, once you have determined what you think is going on in the poem, you need to assign vocal/bodily qualities to it. Yes, you can move around the room or make the audience move. The protocol should be this:
1)A standard, straight reading of the poem
2)Your interpreted, dramatic reading of the poem
3)Your interpretation of the dramatic reading and poem
Here, feel free to re-read certain lines for illustration. Use a visual (e.g., an overhead) if it will help you to organize your
presentation.
Parameters: You will have about twenty minutes. Everyone must speak. Don’t be boring. Consider the rubric below.
IB/AP English: Poetry Dramatic Reading and Analysis Oral Presentation Rubric
Excellent (A) presentations show:
-an excellent overall reflection of the sense of the poem through the sound of the reading
-a thoughtful, thorough use of rate, volume and inflection to marry sound and sense
-clear articulation and pronunciation
-superior insight in the interpretation
-clear ties to the text
-superior understandings of the literary techniques and the poet’s style and their effects on the audience
-organized and thorough analysis
Effective (B) presentations show:
-an effective overall reflection of the sense of the poem through the sound of the reading
-a use of rate, volume and inflection to marry sound and sense
-clear articulation and pronunciation
-good insight in the interpretation
-ties to the text that are usually clear
-good understandings of the literary techniques and the poet’s style and their effects on the audience
-organized and thorough analysis
Acceptable (C ) presentations show:
-some reflection of the sense of the poem through the sound of the reading
-some use of rate, volume and inflection to marry sound and sense
-mostly clear articulation and pronunciation
-insight in the interpretation (though sometimes it may be disjointed, or stretched)
-ties to the text
-some understandings of the literary techniques and the poet’s style
-mostly organized and thorough analysis
Unacceptable (D) presentations show:
-little reflection of the sense of the poem through the sound of the reading
-little use of rate, volume and inflection to marry sound and sense
-unclear articulation and pronunciation
-little insight in the interpretation
-few to no ties to the text
-little understanding of the literary techniques and the poet’s style
-poor/no organization and poor/no analysis