Animal Farm Project

On Animal Farm set forth Napoleon,
Vindictive and strong.
While not as passionate and hopeful as Snowball,
He was the real corrupter all along.

He soon raged with greed and power:
Work hours grew longer,
Rations grew shorter,
and hope became almost non-existent.

He established the rules, set in stone,
All animals are equal,
If only his comrades had known
The truth.

Time passed,
Promises were broken,
Rules were twisted,
And corruption was vast.

If he only felt the suffering of his followers,
Their hunger,
Their exhaustion,
Their fear,
Maybe his cynical power would
Vanish.

Poetry Out Loud Performances

I watched Jackson Hille's performance of Forgetfulness by Billy Collins. Billy's comfortable stage presence and smooth articulation made the poem enjoyable to listen to by the audience. His appropriateness of dramatization was evident as well: he was able to express the poem with wit and poise without going over the top to show the meaning of the poem. While the difficulty level may not be the strongest point, his solid performance in other aspects made it pleasing to watch.



The recitation of the poem helped bring out the main points: the humor and warm tones of the poem. My interpretation of the poem was quite simple: he shows how forgetting some little things in life (such as quadratic equations) is just a funny thing people experience throughout life. The traits that most brought out the performance of the poem was the easy pacing and overall presence: if it was performed awkwardly, I would have most likely lost the point of the poem.