Essay on Slam Poetry (2)

8/20/2019 Essay on Slam Poetry (2)

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Essay on slam poetry

Words…They are our strength our weaknesses. Words are considered to be

a mysterious contrivance of communication in our everyday life. Powers of well-

chosen words have the power to inform, inuence, educate and entertain others.

Their powers are e!pressed e"ectively and emotionally in stories, poems,essays.Therefore one of the most vital and energetic movements in poetry

during the #$s, slam has revitali%ed interest in poetry in performance. This type

of poetry began as part of an oral tradition, at the &et 'e (igh )ounge in

*hicago in +ovember #. This interest was reborn through the rise of poetry

slams across /merica. / slam itself is simply a poetry competition in which poets

perform original work alone or in teams before an audience, which serves as

0udge. Every poet has to have a valid opinion about art and he doesn1t need a

degree or certi2cate to prove it is important for the poets to be honest and not

be inuenced by the audience or the 0udges. 3or this reason the words can

inspire you or wound you. What you say will a"ect you either in a positive ornegative way. 4n this essay 4 will go through some of the most successful slam

poets in the English speaking world.

3irst of all 4 should mention Taylor 'ali as the most well-known slam poet.

(e embraces unconventionality, his works are meant to be read, and each of his

poems has deeper meaning waiting to be discovered. /rticulate, accessible,

passionate, and downright funny, 'ali was a member of the royal 5hakespeare

*ompany and he puts those kinds of skills in all his performances.

6What teachers make6 has been viewed over million times, and therefore it is

his most valuable poem. 'ali has a speci2c type of connection with theaudience7 throughout humor he guides them to new way of looking things.

Particularly this poem was born out of an actual dinner conversation he had. This

poem is about the teachers, the people who give us the most precious, valuable

gift that can ever be given, which is knowledge8s a matter of fact teachers these

days are mocked because do their 0ob, speci2cally for their earnings, their

income. 4n fact everybody seems to ask them what they make, not knowing that

the word make hides a deeper meaning. 5o if anybody asks you this 9uestion

you can simply use the arguments that Taylor states in his speech. /s 4 wrote

before, he was inspired by the conversation he had with one layer who was very

con2dent. The layer 9uoted 6 Those who can do and those who can1t teach6, by

this statement Taylor got angry but he didn8t wanted to be impolite and say some

inappropriate words so he taught him a lesson that he would remember his

entire life. 3or e!ample he says that he makes the children work hard, he makes

them feel proud when they get *-.Taylor is the type of teacher that calls the

parents and tells them to appreciate their children, he trains them to 9uestion,

critici%e and most important to spell correctly. The poem ends with a powerful

message which is to do what you like, if one has knowledge and likes his work he

should not be interrupted by anyone.

4n addition to the bad grammar and the terrible spelling mistakes that students

make he wrote the poem 6The the 4mpotence of Proofreading6 which is the 2rst

thing that pops into my mind when someone makes a mistake. (is poem is a



piece of e!pression which contains a certain interpretation of feelings and ideas

which are presented by a particular diction. Throughout this poem he constantly

messes with the spelling and grammar using humor, whoever listens it will 2nd

himself laughing out loud. Taylor is really con2dent and he knows the power of

words, and when something is said with con2dence, it will most likely be

perceived by the audience. 3or instance, the o:cial version of his poem isnoticeably di"erent ever time he performs. 4t is really evident that he has the

power to switch 0ust few words in a sentence so that the whole meaning of it

changes.

5econd of all Taylor was a teacher long before he became a poet, so he knows

the aws of the educational system very well. ;ne of his poems 6/n /pple a <ay

4s +ot Enough6 is emphasi%ing the importance of health education and the

impotence of health kids. /s he says 6(ealthy kids do better in school6. (e tries

to call out all the people to help him to make this change. /ccordingly to the

recent surveys in = children these days is considered as obese. Teachers are

responsible for the health of the children therefore they should put a lot of e"ortin trying to teach them what to eat and how to behave. They should make this

problem e9ually important as teaching mathematics for e!ample. Throughout his

poems Taylor conveys his knowledge about /merica1s youth, and speaks of real

life problems.

Third of all 4 shall not forget to mention 5arah >ey the youngest poet in spoken

word poetry7 she began to perform since she was fourteen. 5he is a member of

the TE< conference and her most memorable for her talk in ?$. /lso she has

published books which are highly ranked. @;4*E is the name of the organi%ation

that she takes part of7 in fact this organi%ation uses spoken word poetry to

encourage people to engage in self e!pression in schools and communitiesaround the world. (er poem 6(ands6 is about the importance of hands7 the

gestures of the connections they provide for us. 5he e!plains how hand

represent everything in our everyday life8s7 they enable us to write, work ,drive,

play some instrument…4n fact this poem represents people in general, from all

around the world, and everyone should read it and understand it. (ands can

make war or peace in the same way as words can do, she declares that hands

are created for love. Throughout her performance she uses her hands which

make this poem really original. The theme of love is spread throughout the poem

she says that the hands are like mirrors of one1s life they show everything.

(owever what makes this poem special is was the way that 5arah presents it.5he made hands seem much more important that appeal. <ue to this she used

metaphors, and similes. Thus the poem was not based on some opinion but on

facts that are so convincing, and at the end make you see them to understand

who you really are.

/ltogether, the teachers are heroes of the educational system7 they should

be praised and respected for that. Taylor as a former teacher is one of many

people whose works are meant to inspire. / good teacher can inspire children to

work hard and achieve their goals and a bad teacher can discourage children

make them la%y and not fully educated. That is why teachers assist in many

aspect of children lives, they teach them how to get by in life, how to behave,



eat, how to inspire others. The educational system might not be perfect and it

cannot be but the teachers are the ones that can '/>E a di"erence, they '/>E

sacri2ce of themselves to '/>E small children grow into academic people, they

'/>E the future of the society, they '/>E the children the best they can be,

they can contribute to '/>E a better world. The truth is teachers do not work for

salary7 they do this 0ob simply because they want to make di"erence. Theconnections between teachers and students go well beyond the paycheck. /fter

all you don1t have to be a teacher to make a di"erence, you can take 5arah >ey

for e!ample. (er words are so powerful, full of facts, stories that make you think

about life. 5o slam poetry has the power to inuence on people, to make them

think in a di"erent way.

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Essay on Slam Poetry (2)