Reading Response: Poetry and Performance - Research Paper Example

A poem makes an impression through the succession of sounds that words create. The meaning is significant, but not all, when it comes to appreciating a work of art that tries to immortalise an event, quite often a transient one. When one reads a poem silently, words refuse to remain silent. There will always be a parallel world in the reader’s mind where the words form music, a loud reading that remains within the outward silence. Therefore, it is always a great experience to listen to a poem read out, especially if it is read by the poet himself.

In some ways, it restricts the individual possibilities of alternate ways of reading it, but it also liberates the reader to a new experience where the original essence of the poem is retained in the passionate rendition of it by its creator. I had read Theodore Roethke’s poem, ‘My Papa’s Waltz’ a few times before listening to the audio file of its reading. I had formed an auditory impression of the poem by even reading it aloud a couple of times. However, the audio sounded a lot different from the way I perceived the poem.

Though I was a bit surprised at this at first, trying to think of my version as the ideal one, I started to realise the advantages of the version in the in the audio file over mine. I was particularly impressed by the short silences (long pauses) at the end of each line, which could help a listener absorb the meanings very well. The reading is lively though it sounds like a monotone in the beginning. A special effect is created by special stress or elongation of syllables, like in the ‘hung on’ of the third line.

The smoothness of rendition is sustained till the end, while there is a progression in the levels of action and emotional culmination towards the end of the poem. I realised eventually that poetry reading is not always about yelling or spitting words out, but sustaining intense emotions through an assertive voice that plays with sounds and the emotions they create.