Your poetry presentation assignment will consist of choosing a poem and presenting it to the class.
There are three parts to this assignment:
1) Read several published poems, pick one, and then post it to the discussion board in the Week 10 module. Your poem must be at least 12 lines long and not longer than 60 lines. You may choose to present short poems like haikus, but choose several of them from the same poet to make up the line minimum.
Post these by Week 10 at the latest, so that the class has time to read the poems before your presentation.
NOTE: This is a first come, first serve format. If a student has already posted the poem(s) you wanted to present, please pick a different one.
2) Create a PowerPoint or .PDF with a slide or page for each of the assignment criteria:
Poet’s photo/biography
Text of the poem
Discuss the meaning of the poem
Two poetic techniques used by the poet in the poem
3) In class, you will teach your selected poem to the class using your PowerPoint or .PDF:
Begin with the basic biographical facts of the poet such as name, country, and birth date. Share a photo if one is available. Then you will display and read the text of poem. Afterward, lead a discussion of the meaning of the poem. Point out how the poet uses at least 2 of the poetic techniques we have gone over in class such as rhyme, assonance, metaphor, or enjambment.
These presentations should take around 5-7 minutes.
Upload the text of the poem, a photo of the poet, and a PowerPoint to the Week 11 module.
Presentations will begin on Week 11. All presentations are due before class on Week 11.
FINDING A POEM TO PRESENT
Find your poem anywhere. A great resource is the https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/browse# website. You can search by poet, topic, and poetic form.
https://poets.org/ is also a great site to find poems with a great deal of search options.
Read several poems and then decide on one. Don’t use a poem we’ve read in class, but feel free to find a different poem from one of the poet’s we’ve read.
Some suggestions for poets:
Pablo Neruda (Chile)
Tracy K. Smith (America)
Czeslaw Milosz (Poland)
Derek Walcott (St. Lucia)
Nikki Giovanni (America)
Basho (Japan)
Rainer Maria Rilke (Austria)
Mary Oliver (America)