Poetry Slam Description:
April is National Poetry month. The library will be holding a month long celebration, ending with a Poetry Slam. Well, a Poetry Slam with a slight twist. We want you to take The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost and make it your own!
The Poetry Slam will be held on the last Friday in April in the library's multimedia room. Anyone is welcome to watch, but participates must be in grade 7-12. While you should base the idea for your poem off The Road Not Taken, all poetry presented should be the reader's original work. You many not present someone else's work, even if you give them the credit. Reader's will be scored by 3 judges on certain criteria. At the end of the night, the poet with the highest score will be announced as the winner.
We know that not everyone know how to write poetry. There are many how-to books that can give you suggestions on how to create a poem. Below are some books that you may want to look into:
- How to Write Poetry (Scholastic Guide) by Paul Janeczko. Scholastic Reference, April 2001.
- A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver. Harvest Books, August 1994.
- How to Write Poetry by Arco. Arco, August 1998.
- You Can Write Poetry by Jeff Mock. Walking Stick Press, June 1998.
You may also want to look in Dewey Number 808.1 to see what your library offers. If you have difficulty location books, please ask your librarian for help.
While we would like you to form your own interpretation of The Road Not Taken, we understand poetry can sometime be hard to understand. You can view an explanation via LitFinder or ask your librarian to help you location other critical analysis of the poem.
Poetry Slam Details/Rules:
1. You must be a young adult, grade 7-12
2. Work should be based off The Road Not Taken. You may locate a full text copy of the poem and explanation via LitFinder. If you need help, please check out the search tutorial or ask your librarian.
3. Poetry presented but must be poet's original work.
4. Poem should be 3 minutes are less. Anything over that will cause points to be subtracted from your total.
5. No props, costumes, or musical instruments may be used.
6. All poets, will be scored by 3 judges. You may view the rubric/criteria here. The three scores will be added together, the poet with the highest number will be announced as the winner.
Additional Resources: