Poetry Out Loud, a new club run by Upper School English teacher Philip de Sa e Silva is already preparing for the competitive season ahead of them. de Sa e Silva hopes to educate as many students as he can about reciting poetry and putting meaning behind it. “I hope that the group can build some excitement and enthusiasm about poetry and can share that with the rest of the school community,” de Sa e Silva said.

Poetry Out Loud is a poetry recitation competition; competitors recite two poems and the winner is chosen by a judge. Poetry Out Loud begins with a school-wide competition. Judges will evaluate students based on their physical presence on the stage, voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness, evidence of the understanding of the poem and overall performance. The winner of the school competition goes to the Minnesota state competition, with the semifinals on Mar. 8 and 9, and the final competition on Mar. 10. Winners go to the national competition on May 2, 3 and 4, in Washington D.C. The goal of the competition and its partners, The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation and The U.S. State Arts Agencies, is to encourage young students to become educated about poetry memorization and recitation.

de Sa e Silva ran his second meeting of the poetry club, now with almost 15 members, on Oct. 6 after school. The club members discussed what poems they are considering reciting at their first competition on Nov. 18.

“Poetry Out Loud is a great way to practice the art of reading out loud, and with poetry particularly you learn something new when you memorize a poem, I think that this is a really different and positive experience,” de Sa e Silva said. He enjoys poetry on his own time and finds recitation to be an important part of understanding poetry on a deeper level.

Students are very excited about the process and learning about poetry through this format. “Poetry is really cool, because everything you say is in your own power. You know the words on the sheet, but it’s how you convey them, and I think that’s really special,” sophomore Rahul Dev said. He competed in the Poetry Out Loud competition when he was at The Blake School.

“I don’t know that much about poetry, but I like what I’ve read, so I thought it would be a fun way to learn more about it and also get a chance to practice reciting,” junior Phoebe Pannier said.

The competition awards a $20,000 prize to the national winner and $200 prizes are awarded to each state competition winner.       This was not a factor for most of the club members when they considered joining. “The chances of winning money are quite low; it’s a goal, but it’s not something that would affect my decision,” Dev said.

The Poetry Out Loud competition allows students to understand the importance and learn the skills of poetry recitation. “If you have a passion for poetry and you like poetry, then this is just something you should do, because it lets you get connected to the words and really learn a lot about poetry and famous poets,” Dev said.

The first competition of the club will be held in November in the Huss Center. Members will be competing to see who will advance to the statewide competition in March.