Animal Farm!!!

This picture that I drew using Paint depicts a pig in a suit whipping a sheep. As we all know, the pigs turn very much human at the end of the book, so to express that, I drew the 'soul' of the pig behind him as a man. Also, if you look closely, you will be able to see the faded form of the horn and trotter on the green background. This represents the 'fading away' of communism, or 'animalism', as it becomes clear that not all animals are equal.

POL: The Charge of the Light Brigade

The Charge of the Light Brigade actually wasn't my first choice for a poem. What I really wanted to recite was The Cremation of Sam Mcgee by Robert Service, but that poem was retired from the competition. When I saw that, I had no idea what poem I was going to do, until I saw The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The reason this poem stood out to me was bacause I've heard a lot about it from my family and it's what The Trooper by Iron Maiden is about. At first, it was very hard to memorize as I had no idea what happened during the charge. Then I started reasearching the Battle of Balaclava and it's easier to memorize now. What this poem is about is the charge in it's most intense moments; when the British Light Brigade is charging the Russian guns, the skirmish, and the retreat. This happened as a result of a misread order.

Poetry Out Loud

Part 1
1. The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
2. Russel Market by Maurya Simon
3. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
4. Old Ironsides by Oliver Wendell Holmes, A Birthday by Christina Rossetti

Part 2
1. I liked The Charge of the Light Brigade the best.
2. I didn't like Russel Market because it didn't really make sense to me.
3. Probably The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
4. Well, one of my favorite bands, Iron Maiden, made a song called The Trooper, which is based off The Charge of the Light Brigade.

Part 3
1. Overall Performance and Accuracy I will have no problem with, as I can memorize things fairly quickly and I'm good at performing overall.
2. Physical Presence and Voice and Articulation are going to be some major roadblocks to reciting my poem. I get nervous fast and my voice starts to shake and sometimes my legs start doing a nervous twitch.

Part 4
I watched Kareem Sayegh recite Man-Moth by Elizabeth Bishop. I think he did a very good job, even though he mispronounced a word or two. I also watched Allison Strong recite Sonnet CXXX: My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun by William Shakespeare. She had very good articulation and made no mistakes in reciting the poem.

Part 5
I am not as nervous as I was when I first heard of this competition, but I'm still pretty nervous. I've never recited a poem longer then a couple lines before and I didn't have to memorize it so this is all new to me. I think my view on poetry has changed quite a bit so now I'm enjoying reading poetry.