Ailene Huang
Topic: The Poetry Slam Movement
Working Thesis:
Poetry slams, a movement started by poet and construction
worker Marc Smith, began in the city of Chicago, and conceived as a way to
share, engage and expose the regular folk to the art of poetry beyond the
bounds of “academic poetry.” The movement’s competitive, grassroots,
interactive and provoking nature contributed to its success, especially among
the generation of youth and young adults. The movement has gone from little
known poetry clubs in the cities of Chicago and New York to the small screen of
HBO and MTV. Though the essence of the movement’s community culture has largely
been maintained, it has, throughout the years, gotten commercialized through mainstream
exposure, allowing it to also evolve into a forum that tackles themes of race,
gender and class disparities prevalent in today’s political and social
structures.
Anotated Bibliography:
1) Somers-Willett,
Susan B. A. The Cultural Politics of Slam Poetry: Race, Identity, and
the Performance of Popular Verse in America. Michigan: University of
Michigan, 2009. Print.
Somers-Willett
dives into the idea of how racial and personal identities of poets themselves
contribute to their own slam poetry as well as the poetry slam movement. The
racial, sexual orientation and gender identity of many slam poets has molded
and shaped the movement and has become a major theme in itself in the slam
culture. This has given rise to a large representation of youth within the
movement and the mainstreaming of this type of art form. I’ll be using this to
analyze how these themes of identity has shaped and changed the movement
throughout time.
2) Aptowicz,
Cristin O'Keefe. Words in Your
Face: A Guided Tour through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam.
New York: Soft Skull, 2008. Print.
Aptowicz
and contributing writers in this book offer a deep analysis of the rise of
poetry slams in American culture, the influence of modern poetry and hip-hop
culture, and how the popularization of the art of poetry has influenced the
movement itself. The wide range of authors and their stories will help me in my
analysis of the origins of the movement, its main actors, and the effect it has
had on society since its inception.
3) Rohter,
Larry. "Is Slam in Danger of Going Soft?" The New York Times. N.p., 2
June 2009. Web. 19 Oct. 2013.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/books/03slam.html?_r=1&>.
Rohter’s
article on poetry slams for The New York Times comes after slam poets were
invited to the White House to perform and “jam.” In the article, Rohter
interviews the creator of the poetry slam movement, Marc Smith, as well as
other poets and authors who are prominent in the slam world. There’s an
interesting juxtaposition in the article, pointing out how the movement has shifted
away from classical poetry and how people either deem the shift as good
exposure for the art form, or the death of the art form all together. This
article will help me analyze the affects of mainstreaming the grassroots
movement, the controversies it has created within the poetry world, and the
positive and/or negative effects it has had on the original intention of the
movement itself.
