Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Animal farm project: Poem

WHEN POWER CORUPTS

Napoleon the boar,

Drove snowball away,

He took control,

In every possible way.

He was greedy for power

And he failed to see,

The impact of his decisions,

And how devastating they could be.

He upped the work,

He cut the rations,

he was the farms new nemesis,

In his very own fashion.

He promised sanctuary to the animals,

And a better life,

That all would be equal,

That all would be right.

But as he said this,

The power addicted him,

He used it to his own benefit,

And failed to view what they had entered in.

The animals believed him,

They had so much hope,

For sugar-candy mountain,

And a land with no ropes.

Their commandments were changed,

Napoleon killed their friends,

He sold the eggs for money,

He broke the hearts of the hens.

He used his power corruptly,

He put himself always first,

Never looked back,

And left the others the worst.

Things are evil when selfishness prevails

When one serves only ones self,

When all pure motives fail.

Things are tragic,

When greed erupts,

When morals collapse,

When power corrupts.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Poetry performances

Sophia Elena Soberon
"Bilingual/Bilingüe" by Rhina P. Espaillat

Her voice was radiant and clear, she had a nice spanish accent and articulation and perfect english too which added to the poems mood. She didn't recite in a sing song manner. Her physical presence was excellent, she was confident throughout the performance and seemed perfectly at ease and un-tense. She had good eye contact, constantly scanning the crowd and looking away only to emphasize some words. She used dramatization appropriately and definitely didn't present in a monotone manner. It wasn't too easy. The level of difficulty was good, the content was great and the length wasn't too short or too long. Sophia showed an in depth understanding of the poem and was without hesitation.

"Bilingual/Bilingüe" is about growing up in a bilingual household, and how one language is abandoned in favor of the other. They are separated from the one another and alienated. The meaning is enhanced when she recites "english outside this door, spanish inside!". It shows how her father believed in keeping the languages separate attempts to alienate the latino heritage of the girl.