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CONTENT: SPOKEN WORD POETRY

CONTENT STANDARDS:
The learner will be able to understand appreciate literary texts in various
genres across national literature and cultures.

PERFORMANCE STANDARDS:
The learner will be able to demonstrate understanding and appreciation of
21st Century Philippine literature through the learning of composing and delivering
a brief and creative entertainment poem featuring an adaptation of a text into
other creative forms using multimedia.

LEARNING COMPETENCIES:
The learners identify: representative texts and authors from Asia, North
America, Europe, Latin America, and Africa; and compare and contrast the various
21st century literary genres and their elements, structures, and traditions from
across the globe.

MODULE 10: SPOKEN WORD POETRY

At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to:

a. decode messages based on the picture clues given;
b. analyze a spoken poetry as a means of self-expression; and
c. create a vignette of a chosen 21st century literary genre.

INTRODUCTION

Digital poetry has taken and given a lot

from conventional art forms when it comes to
shaping the poetry of the 21st century. The
modern or twenty-first-century poetry has
seen a drastic change from the poetry in the
preceding centuries. While modern poetry or
the poetry evolving in the twenty-first
Photo from medium.com
century has adopted a more favorable style
towards free verse and a greater emphasis
on artistic expression, it has evolved with features like disrupted or unkempt syntax,
irregular stanza structure and lacking rhyme schemes.

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With the help of the technology, new popularity for poetry has been achieved
through big portals on social media platforms which have seen a big fan following, giving
new artists and writers a space to showcase their work. Social media is one of the biggest
boons for a lot of businesses in the twenty-first century, has also been a big platform for
many poets and writers as well as other artists to showcase their work and achieve fame.

CHECKPOINT 1: Guess Me

Look at the pictures and guess the answer by combining the object shown. You may
refer to the jumbled letters given below.

1.

R E D E F M O

2.

E R A T T B H A E

3.

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L L I S S E E F

Wow! That is amazing! You have successfully accomplished the first activity for this
module. Don’t forget what you have just unlocked for you will further realize them as you
will appreciate the featured 21st Century World Literature in this module.

Spoken Word Poetry

Spoken Word Poetry is intended for

performance onstage for a live audience.

It is mostly associated with hip-hop

culture, but it also has its roots in modern
poetry, postmodern performance,
storytelling and monologue theatre, as well
as to various types of music such as jazz,
Photo from wspucla.wordpress.com blues, and folk.

It aims to make a lasting impact on the audience by using the following:

 Rhythm - can be described as the beat and pace of a poem.
 Improvisation - one's creativity, mental flexibility and thinking skills in numerous
ways.
 Rhymes - correspondence of two or more words with similar-sounding final syllables
placed so as to echo one another.
 Word play - clever and witty use of words and meaning.
 Slang - words that are very specific to a region and time, and have been recently
coined.

What makes spoken word poetry a unique and

a powerful literary genre is that it goes beyond
mere self-expression. It is also an empowering tool
in expressing one's beliefs and stand on
contemporary issues. The live performance allows
the poet/ performer to convey emotions and
convictions in a way that words on a page cannot.

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It extends beyond the boundaries of the printed page. In spoken word poetry, the delivery
of the work is just as important as the structure of the written word. The poet's tone of
voice, energy, gestures, facial expressions are elements that convey meaning as much as
the words do.

Spoken word poetry has been rising in popularity in the recent decades, gaining a
dedicated following from artists of various socio-economic and cultural backgrounds around
the world. The Internet has further increased the genre's popularity and accessibility.
Thousands of spoken word poetry performances may be accessed through YouTube and
various other websites.

The poem you are about to read is written by Suheir Hammad in

2010, a Polestinian-American poet and activist. “ What I Will” refers to the
mass murder going on in Palestine. The poet expresses how she and the rest
of the Palestinians refuse to participate in the Israelis' war.

Read it very carefully for you to accomplish your Checkpoint 2.

WHAT I WILL
by Suheir Hammad

I will not
dance to your war drum. I will
not lend my soul nor
my bones to your war
drum. I will
not dance to your
beating. I know that beat.
It is lifeless. I know
intimately that skin
you are hitting. It was alive once
hunted stolen
stretched. I will
not dance to your drummed
up war. I will not pop
spin beak for you. I

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will not hate for you or

even hate you. I will
not kill for you. Especially I will not die
for you. I will not mourn the dead with murder nor
suicide. I will not side
with you nor dance to bombs
because everyone else is
dancing. Everyone can be
wrong. Life is a right not
collateral or casual. I
will not forget where
I come from. I
will craft my own drum. Gather my beloved
near and our chanting
will be dancing. Our
humming will be drumming. I
will not be played. I
will not lend my name nor my rhythm to your beat. I will dance
and resist and dance and persist and dance. This heartbeat is louder than death. Your war
drum ain't louder than this breath.

CHECKPOINT 2: Brave Enough

Below are questions pertaining what you have just read. Answer each with what you
have understood about the poem. Limit your answer to two to three (2 - 3) sentences only.

1. What is the theme of the poem?

2. What is the speaker's tone in this poem?
3. What essentially is it that the poet firmly states she will not do?
4. The poem's title is What I Will, but it actually expresses what the poet "will not"
do. Why is this so?
5. What I Will is intended as spoken-word poetry: it is meant to be spoken aloud.
Watch the video and compare the text of the poem with the performance. What
does the performance add to your understanding and appreciation of the text?

PERFORMANCE TASK FOR THE SECOND QUARTER

Before you make your output, let us first have a quick review of what your
output is all about and how to create one.

I. What is a Vignette?

In literature, a vignette (pronounced vin-yet) is a short scene that captures a single

moment or a defining detail about a character, idea, or other element of the story. Vignettes

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are mostly descriptive; in fact, they often include little or no plot detail. They are not stand-
alone literary works, nor are they complete plots or narratives. Instead, vignettes are small
parts of a larger work, and can only exist as pieces of a whole story.

Notably, the word vignette comes from the French vigne meaning “little vine,” and
the term specifically arose for the small vines drawn on the pages of printed texts.

II. Example of a Vignette

A vignette should be descriptive, whether it is about a setting, a character, or

another aspect of a story. Read the passage below:

The room was warm and stuffy, but in a

comforting way. It had the heavy but pleasing odor of
musty books and old upholstery, with an overall air of ash
and cedar from the fire that was always burning low the
stone hearth, crackling and spitting quietly. There was a
patchwork blanket resting over the side of the sunken but
cozy couch, its squares tattered by the love and wear of
time. A wooden clock ticked reliably on the wall.

The vignette above uses descriptive words to paint a literary picture of a single
room. On its own and out of context, this passage does not serve much of a purpose. It
leaves questions like: Where is the room? Who is seeing the room? Why are they there?
Whose home is it? These questions about the larger story, aren’t answered with the
description. This vignette’s purpose is to add further insight about the room and to help the
audience understand the setting—it doesn’t tell a complete story on its own, but rather, it
provides depth to the setting of some whole story.

III. Importance of Vignettes

Vignettes are important because of their descriptive nature—they can illuminate

significant information, create depth of character, or provide insight about past events or
circumstances. This helps create a more complete picture of the greater story. All stories
rely on vignettes to provide detail. Without them, stories would be little more than plot
outlines.

IV. Process of Creating Vignettes

A. Know the Tips

1. Understand the purpose of a vignette. A vignette should express a certain
moment, mood, aspect, setting, character, or object. Most of all, it should be
short, but descriptive.
 In terms of length, a vignette is typically 800-1000 words. But it can be
as short as a few lines or under 500 words.
 A vignette will usually have 1-2 short scenes, moments, or impressions
about a character, an idea, a theme, a setting, or an object.
 You can use the first second, or third point of view in a vignette. But
most vignettes are told in just one point of view, instead of alternating

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points of view. Remember you only have a short amount of space on

the page for the vignette. So don’t waste valuable time confusing your
reader with many points of view.

2. Don’t feel restricted to one structure or style in a vignette. A vignette is an open

form. This means you do not need to write within a certain structure or a specific
plot. So, you can have a clear beginning, middle, and end, or you can skip
beginnings and endings altogether.
 A vignette also does not require a main conflict or a resolution of a
conflict. This freedom gives some vignettes an unfinished or unresolved
tone. But unlike other traditional storytelling forms like the novel or the
short story, a vignette does not have to tie up all the loose ends.
 In a vignette, you are not limited by a certain genre or style. So you can
combine elements of horror and romance, or you can use poetry and
prose in the same vignette.
 Feel free to use simple and minimal language, or lush, detailed prose.

3. Remember the one rule of the vignette: create an atmosphere, not a story.
Because there is limited space in a vignette, it's important to show, rather than
tell the reader. So avoid inserting backstory or exposition into a vignette. Focus
instead on creating a snapshot in the life of a character or a certain setting.

B. Brainstorming Ideas for the Vignette

1. Create an association diagram. An association diagram is also known as a
clustering technique. You will create a cluster or group of words around a theme
or idea.
 Take out a sheet of paper. Write your main topic or subject in the
middle of the paper. For example, “Spring”.
 Moving out from the center, write down other words that pop into your
mind that relate to “Spring”.
 For example, for “Spring”, you might write “flowers”, “rain”, “Spring
break”, “new life”. Don’t worry about organizing the words as you write.
Simply let the words flow around the main topic.
 Once you feel you have written enough words around the main topic,
start to cluster the words. Draw a circle around words that relate to
each other and draw a line between the circled words to connect them.
Continue doing this with the other words. Some of the terms may end
up uncircled, but these lone words can still be useful.
 Focus on how the words relate to the main topic. If you have clustered
together several words that relate to “new life”, for example, maybe
this may be a good approach for the vignette. Or if there are a lot of
clustered words that focus on “flowers", this may be another way to
approach “Spring.”

2. Do a free-write. A free-write is a chance for you to let your thoughts flow on a

piece of paper. Write whatever comes into your mind and don’t judge what you
are writing.
 Take out a piece of paper, or open a new document on your computer.
Write the main topic at the top of the paper.

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 A good rule of thumb for the free-write is to not lift your pen from the
paper, or your fingers from the keyboard. This means not re-reading
the sentences you just wrote or going back over a line for spelling,
grammar, or punctuation. If you feel you have run out of things to write
down, write about your frustrations about not having anything else to
say about the main topic.
 Read over the text. Though there may be some confusing or convoluted
thoughts, there will also be sentences you may like or an insight that
may be useful.
 Highlight or underline sentences or phrases you think may work in the
vignette.

3. Ask the six big questions. Take out a sheet of paper or open a new document.
Write the main topic of the vignette at the top of the document. Then, write
down six headings: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?
 Respond to each question with a phrase or sentence. For example, if
your topic is “Spring”, you may answer Who? with “my mother and I in
the garden”. You may answer When? with “A hot summer day in July
when I was six years old.” You may answer Where? with “Miami,
Florida.” You may answer Why? with “Because it was one of the
happiest moments of my life.” And you may answer How? with “I was
alone with my mother in the garden, without my sisters.”
 Look over your responses. Do you have more than one or two phrases
for a certain question? Is there one question you had no answer for? If
your answers reveal you know more about “where” and “why”, maybe
this is where the strongest ideas for the vignette are.

C. Writing the Vignette

1. Decide on the style of the vignette. Maybe you want to do a freestyle vignette
where you create a scene or describe an object. Or perhaps you’d like to use the
format of a letter or a blog post for the vignette.
 For example, a vignette about “Spring” could describe a scene in the
garden with your mother, among the flowers and trees. Or it could be in
the form of a letter to your mother about that day in Spring, among the
flowers and trees.

2. Add sensory details. Focus on the five senses: touch, taste, smell, sight, and
sound. Could a certain detail in the vignette be stronger with a description of the
smell of a flower or the softness of the petals of a flower?
 You can also add figurative language to strengthen the vignette, such
as similes, metaphors, alliteration, and personification. But use these
sparingly and only when you feel like a simile or metaphor will highlight
the rest of the vignette.

3. Condense the vignette. A good vignette should have a sense of urgency. This
means cutting out details like what the character ate for breakfast or the color of
the sky in the garden unless they are essential to the vignette. Only include
scenes and moments that add urgency, and remove any details that slow down
the pace of the vignette.

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 Look over the first two lines of the vignette. Does the vignette begin at
the right moment? Is there a sense of urgency in the first two lines?
 Make sure your characters collide with each other very early in the
vignette. See if you can edit the vignette so you set a scene in the least
words possible.

Since you are now familiar with what a vignette is and how to write one,
you are now ready to proceed to your major project for this quarter.

Literature serves as an escape portal of people who are adversely affected by the
pandemic into their comfort zones. As a prominent 21 st century writer, you picture
yourself of publishing your masterpiece. Hence, you thought of providing initial insights
about the circumstances in your masterpiece through creating a vignette. The vignette
will excite your avid readers, thereby allowing them to forget the trying times. Your
vignette will be critiqued by international literature organizations using the following
standards: layout and creativity, word choice, sensory details, organization, and grammar
and conventions.

Things to remember in writing your own vignette:

1. Assume that you are any of the writers featured for our subject. Decide who among
them you can best represent. They are the following with their works:
 Carl Jerome Velasco – Autobiographical Fiction (Testimonio)
 Charlotte Aninion-De Guzman – A Jeepney Tapestry (Flash Fiction)
 Atilla Roma – Textula (Textula)
 Ann Luna - You are Not Your Facebook Profile (Blog)
 Charlotte Aninion-De Guzman – Passage (Lyrical Essay)
 Malala Yousafzai – I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and
was Shot by the Taliban (Memoir)
 Julio Cortazar – Continuity of Parks (Metafiction)
 Art Spiegelman – Maus: A Survivor’s Tale (Comic Book/Graphic Novel)
 Suheir Hammad – What I Will (Spoken Word Poetry)

2. Review the process of writing a vignette provided in the discussion above.

Afterwards, create a vignette for the abovementioned work of your writer.
3. Limit your vignette to 200 words.
4. Layout your vignette on a multimedia processing application such as Photoshop, MS
Publisher, Canva, etc.
5. Add pictures and other graphics to enhance the background of your vignette.
6. Sample vignettes are provided below.
7. While creating your vignette, be guided by the rubric given below.
8. Take note that this Performance Task makes 60% of your final grade in this subject.

SAMPLE VIGNETTES

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Vignette of Paper Towns (John Green) Vignette of Thirteen Reasons Why (Jay Asher)

RUBRIC FOR CREATING A VIGNETTE

Outstanding Satisfactory
Developing Beginning
Criteria
(4) (2) (3) (1)
The The The The
background background
background background
goes very well does goes well with
not does not go
with the text. the text. The
always go well with the text.
There is an mix of colors,
with the text. The mix of
excellent There is
graphics, and colors,
choice of the something
font styles in graphics, and
Layout and mix of colors, wrong either
the font styles in
Creativity graphics, and with the
background the
font styles in choiceare of well- background
the colors,
chosen. are unfittingly
background. graphics, or chosen.
font styles in
the
background.
The words The words The words The words
used create a used are used are more used are very
Word Choice clear picture in routinary but telling than basic.
the reader’s workable. sharing.
minds.
Sensory The output The output The output The output
Details uses concrete uses concrete makes a fails to make
and vivid and sensory central a central

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sensory details details to build impression, impression

to build clear a clear and but it is not and it is
and relevant relevant very clear or mostly
central central relevant. abstract.
impression. impression.
The output is The output is The output is The output is
concise and mostly mostly clearly
Organization compact with coherent. incoherent. disorganized.
all parts
connected.
The vignette The vignette There are There is no
shows mastery shows mastery some errors in substantial
and excellent of grammar the use of evidence on
use of and language grammar and the
Grammar
grammar and concepts. language knowledge of
and
language found in the grammar and
Conventions
concepts. vignette. language
concepts
found in the
vignette.

Congratulations for you have satisfactorily accomplished this semester. I hope that
you have learned lessons that you can apply in your daily life. Keep up the good work!

Reference:
Ambon, F., Babasa, E., et al. (2016). 21st century literature from the Philippines and
the world for senior high school. Malabon City: Mutya Publishing House, Inc.

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