Emma Libersky said, “I’m very excited to compete in nationals.” Pictured from left to right are, Laura Scanlan (NEA), Emma Libersky, Lewis Ricci (IAC). Photo Contributed by: Brian Drumm.
By Rebeca Lee
Besides her schoolwork Sophomore Emma Libersky never had anything to do with poetry, until one day she heard on the announcements about the Poetry Out Loud Competition (POL).
Libersky who was representing Plymouth High School, was one of twenty-three schools. She was surprised to learn out of all those schools she had won the Indiana POL Competition. This year at state level there had been more competitors since the beginning of POL competitions and Libersky was the first Plymouth High School champion to advance to Nationals. She received a $200 cash prize as well as an all-expense paid trip to Washington D.C. for her and her mother where she will be representing Indiana at the National Finals on April 29-30.
Practicing twice a week with PHS’s English teacher Ms. Dorland, Libersky worked hard on reciting her three pieces. Libersky said, “[It was] the first time I’ve recited.” According to Ms. Dorland, memorization came easy for Libersky. “Her memorization was perfect from the beginning so our focus was always on the analysis and interpretation of the poem. I had to be very specific in my critique of her performance,” said Ms. Dorland.
The judges at the POL competition look at the following categories: physical presence, voice & articulation, dramatic appropriateness, level of difficulty, evidence of understanding, overall performance, and accuracy. Photo Contributed by: Brian Drumm.
On the Poetry Out Loud website, there is a list of poems. From this list, the contestants must pick the pieces they will be reciting. Libersky recited “Monet Refuses the Operation” by Lisel Mueller, Robert Frost’s “After Apple-Picking,” and “In a London Drawingroom” by George Eliot. The POL competition is a step by step process. First, there’s a school competition, then the school winner from that moves on to the state competition. Libersky said, “At the state competition everyone recites his/her first poem, then everyone recites his/her second poem, and then the top ten people recite their third poem.” According to Libersky’s understanding, she does not have to recite the same three poems as she did for the school competition, but because she enjoyed reciting those, she plans on reusing the same three pieces for Nationals.
“The contestants do not become a character or ‘act out’ the poem. It is strictly oral interpretation, so the participant is tasked with allowing the poem to communicate on its own with the reciter’s body language, tone, volume, inflection, etc. as the vessel for the message and meaning,” said Ms. Dorland. Poetry out Loud is similar to speech and can be easily confused with it. Ms. Dorland explains how there is a very fine line between dramatically appropriate and “over the top.” Ms. Dorland also explained, the biggest thing that sets POL apart from speech competitions is that POL is not about giving a dramatic performance.
Ms. Dorland hopes that having one of PHS’s students be the state champion encourages more students to participate. “Especially after Emma returns from her all-expenses paid trip to Washington DC,” said Ms. Dorland. She explains how oral interpretation is unfortunately a dying art form, but would love to see it revived through the student body.