The relative absence of nonfiction in literature for young readers may have serious implications because nonfiction literacy matters. Nonfiction material is the crucible within which readers can gain the knowledge and skills that enable them to reach sound decisions in all arenas of life, avoid gullibility born of ignorance, and participate in an…

Argues that the creative procedures of writing, performing, and interpreting poetry are subtly interrelated. Illustrates this argument with examples from the author's own poetry. (MM)

Suggestions are offered in this paper for adapting C. S. Lewis's poems for oral interpretation. A discussion of Lewis's lifelong correspondence with his friend Arthur Greeves provides insights into Lewis's perceptions of his own writing. Eighty poems selected from Lewis's "Poems" as appropriate for oral interpretation are classified…

Outlines common abuses that occur when students first use dramatic analysis in oral interpretation. Offers guidelines to help make students' efforts more productive; uses William Carlos Williams's poem "The Red Wheelbarrow" as an example. (PD)

Describes six inadequate approaches used in teaching, analyzing, and interpreting poetry, and suggests a useful key" for the interpretation of poems. (SW)

Reviews scholarship on the interdependence of rhetoric and poetic language, and proposes a performance as argument model for the oral interpretation of literature. Relates the model to current work on the relationship of narrative to argument and suggests benefits gained from its adoption. (SR)

Proposes an alternative interpretation to John Keats'"Ode To A Nightingale," which illustrates a greater interplay of conflict and tension and offers a potentially more varied performance. (MH)

Examines approaches to interpretation study contained in basic interpretation textbooks. Describes the performance criticism each approach generates. (PD)

Explores how oral and print characteristics mesh or clash in "words-in-freedom," a form of visual poetry invented by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. Analyzes Marinetti's poster-poem "Apres la Marne, Joffre visita le front en auto," highlighting the different natures of the two media and the coding difficulties occasioned by…

A study examined the question of what sequence patterns, if any, of covering oral interpretation topics emerge from forensic coaching sessions. To answer the question it was first necessary to analyze the process used by the coaches. Process was defined as the action of passing through continuing development from a beginning to a contemplated end.…

In the process of perfecting oral performances of selected scenes from Eudora Welty's "The Optimist's Daughter," it is important to study point of view and character as they pertain to the play. Four aspects should be considered to understand the point of view: (1) the character's story, (2) the position from which the narrator speaks,…

Oral interpretation allows audiences to make aesthetic, rather than moral, decisions about lesbian literature. To perform lesbian literature, the interpreter should be aware of lesbian literary criticism. Three theories of lesbian criticism form part of a lesbian literary canon: (1) revision (rereading existing texts from a feminist perspective,…

The successful oral reading of poetry requires that oral interpreters conduct phenomenological investigations of the first lines of the poems, not merely to make these lines happen properly but to suggest what has preceded the first line. Individual word meanings in the opening lines of a poem establish "structures of intentionality"--the…