There are classic poems that appeal to everyone across centuries and across generations, for example, Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken or the famous lines from the 19th century poem Solitude by Ella Wheeler Wilcox: “Laugh, and the world laughs with you…”
The Poetry in Voice competition is a national Canadian contest to encourage high school students to read and enjoy poetry. Ten students from Elphinstone Secondary stepped up on Feb. 28 to compete before a panel of judges and an audience of their fellow students to recite famous poems from memory and be graded. You don’t win a competition by parroting tonelessly – each presenter knew that and strived to give a best performance.
They were awarded points for their stage presence or body language, their articulation, their accuracy, and most importantly, their overall understanding and interpretation of the poem they selected from hundreds on a list.
Elphinstone teacher and poet Susan Telfer reminded the audience how difficult it was to stand up before a crowd and recite. Some were nervous, but all managed to convey the poem to the audience.
Results were very close; only a few points separated the winner, Bella Zabaglia, from the second place winner Nicholas Davis. A tie for third place went to Sacha Stipec and Jessica Carroll. For one of his two pieces, Nicholas recited a contemporary poem, World Shapers, from West Coast poet Joanne Arnott. Sacha chose Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe, while Jessica chose We Wear the Mask, a poem from a 19th century American son of slaves, Paul Laurence Dunbar.
Bella recited from Solitude and from Dulce et Decorum Est, an unvarnished look at the brutalities of warfare by British soldier Wilfred Owen, and she will be making a video of her performance to be sent to an online semi-finals for Poetry in Voice.
The 24 top-scoring students from the semi-finals and their teachers are awarded travel to and accommodation for the national finals. Students then compete to be named the English, French or Bilingual National Champion and win one of three $5,000 grand prizes.
If reading poetry aloud inspires you, see the Poetry in Voice website that lists many poems and gives notes about their authors: poetryinvoice.com
