Oral Interpretation

by Gura, Timothy; Lee, Charlotte

• ISBN13: 9780618308170
• ISBN10: 0618308172
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-06-14
• Publisher: PEARSON

Summary

Based on the authors' philosophy that scholarship, technical know-how, sensitivity, and the desire to share are cornerstones of interpretation, this classic text continues to provide students who are new to performance study with a solid foundation in literary analysis and performance. The Eleventh Edition includes more than 100 classic and contemporary poems, short stories, and dramatic works to inspire students. Practical features include a discussion of performance ethics; suggestions for a student's first performance; special insights on maximizing the use of the voice and body; Analyzing the Performance sections; and Rehearsal Tips.

Table of Contents

To the Student	xv
To the Instructor	xvii
PART ONE Basic Principles	1	(172)
A Beginning and an End	3	(26)
Expect This!	3	(1)
Interpretation Requires Communicating	4	(2)
Interpretation Engages an Audience	6	(2)
Ethical Responsibilities	7	(1)
Technical Responsibilities	7	(1)
Interpretation Involves a Literary Work in Its Intellectual and Emotional Entirety	8	(2)
Analysis: Content	9	(1)
Analysis: Structure	9	(1)
Interpretation Celebrates a Literary Work in Its Aesthetic Entirety	10	(1)
Important Early Questions: Why Perform? Is this Acting?	10	(3)
Sources of Material	13	(1)
Intertextuality	14	(1)
Choosing Your Selection: Three Touchstones	15	(5)
Universality	15	(1)
Individuality	16	(1)
Suggestion	16	(1)
Applying the Touchstones	16	(1)
The Sense of Death, Helen Hoyt	17	(1)
I Felt a Funeral, Emily Dickinson	17	(1)
Dulce, Deborah Sherman	18	(2)
Preliminary Analysis: Hoyt's Poem	20	(2)
Universality	20	(1)
Individuality	21	(1)
Suggestion	21	(1)
Preliminary Analysis: Dickinson's Poem	22	(1)
Preliminary Analysis: Sherman's Story	23	(2)
Remember This!	25	(1)
Bibliography	26	(3)
Analyzing the Selection	29	(56)
Expect This!	29	(1)
Preparing the First Performance	30	(1)
Major Structural Components	31	(8)
Denotative and Connotative Meanings	31	(1)
Persona	32	(1)
Locus	33	(2)
Placing Action Out Front	35	(2)
Climax	37	(1)
New Words	38	(1)
Maury Yeston
Major Aesthetic Components	39	(4)
Unity and Harmony	40	(1)
Variety and Contrast	40	(1)
Balance and Proportion	41	(2)
Rhythm	43	(1)
Using the Tools	43	(12)
Sample Analysis of a Story	44	(1)
The Story of an Hour	44	(5)
Kate Chopin
Sample Analysis of a Poem	49	(1)
I Felt a Funeral	49	(6)
Emily Dickinson
Synthesis	55	(4)
Rehearsing the Selection	56	(1)
Excerpts and Introductions	57	(2)
Analyzing the Rehearsal and the Performance	59	(1)
Remember This!	60	(1)
Selections for Analysis and Oral Interpretation	61	(20)
When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer	61	(1)
Walt Whitman
Sonnet	62	(1)
John Keats
The Starlight Night	62	(1)
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Desert Places	63	(1)
Robert Frost
from A Christmas Memory	64	(1)
Truman Capote
Ringing the Bells	65	(1)
Anne Sexton
Dreaming	66	(2)
Amanda McBroom
Homework	68	(6)
Peter Cameron
Upon Learning That a Junior High School Acquaintance Has Been Nominated for an Academy Award	74	(1)
Joanne Gilbert
How to Watch Your Brother Die	75	(3)
Michael Lassell
from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone	78	(3)
J. K. Rowling
Bibliography	81	(4)
Voice Development for Oral Interpretation	85	(48)
Expect This!	85	(2)
Relaxation Technique	87	(1)
Breath Control	88	(5)
The Physiology of Breathing	88	(1)
Breathing Exercises	89	(4)
Volume and Projection	93	(3)
Control of Projection	93	(1)
Focus of Projection	94	(2)
Pitch and Quality	96	(1)
The Wild Honeysuckle	96	(1)
Philip Freneau
from I Hear America Singing	97	(1)
Walt Whitman
Rate and Pause	97	(2)
Intelligibility of Speech	99	(1)
Dialect	100	(2)
Remember This!	102	(1)
Selections for Analysis and Oral Interpretation	102	(28)
A Night at the Opera	103	(1)
William Matthews
from A Very Rigid Search	104	(2)
Jonathan Safran Foer
Confess, Early and Often	106	(3)
Jane Smiley
Jabberwocky	109	(1)
Lewis Carroll
from The Little Girls	110	(4)
Elizabeth Bowen
Dover Beach	114	(1)
Matthew Arnold
Back at the Ranch	115	(3)
Jay Allison
Her Story	118	(1)
Naomi Long Madgett
The Lesson	119	(7)
Toni Cade Bambara
from The Night Chant	126	(1)
Navajo Ceremonial Chant
Washington Matthews
from Blue Highways	126	(3)
William Least Heat Moon
The Voice You Hear When You Read Silently	129	(1)
Thomas Lux
Bibliography	130	(3)
Use of the Body in Oral Interpretation	133	(40)
Expect This!	133	(1)
Technique	134	(2)
Posture	136	(1)
Kinesics	136	(4)
Gesture	137	(1)
Muscle Tone	138	(1)
Performance Anxiety	139	(1)
Sense Imagery	140	(3)
Empathy	143	(2)
Using Your Body in Rehearsal	145	(2)
Eye Contact	147	(1)
Analyzing the Rehearsal and the Performance	148	(2)
Remember This!	150	(1)
Selections for Analysis and Oral Interpretation	151	(20)
The Second Coming	151	(1)
William Butler Yeats
Flying Finish	152	(2)
Bill Hayes
Ulysses	154	(2)
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio	156	(1)
James Wright
from Friday Night Lights	157	(2)
H. G. Bissinger
The .38	159	(1)
Ted Joans
Still Life	160	(1)
Diane Ackerman
Girl	161	(1)
Jamaica Kincaid
Affirmative Action	162	(1)
Lucille Clifton
The Race	163	(2)
Sharon Olds
The Negro Speaks of Rivers	165	(1)
Langston Hughes
Old Lady's Winter Words	166	(2)
Theodore Roethke
from Jarheads	168	(2)
Anthony Swofford
from As You Like It	170	(1)
William Shakespeare
Admission of Failure	171	(1)
Phyllis Koestenbaum
Bibliography	171	(2)
PART TWO Interpretation of Prose	173	(114)
Style and Types in Fiction and Nonfiction	175	(56)
Expect This!	175	(2)
Style	177	(12)
Paragraphs	178	(1)
Sentences	179	(3)
Speech Phrases	182	(1)
Balancing Sentences	183	(2)
Diction: The Choice of Words	185	(1)
Tone Color: The Sounds of Words	186	(1)
Rhythm in Prose	187	(1)
Description	187	(2)
Types of Prose	189	(9)
Factual Prose	189	(1)
Personal Essays	190	(1)
Journals, Diaries, and Letters	191	(2)
Oral Histories	193	(1)
Family Storytelling: The Tales of Everyday Life	194	(1)
Folktales	195	(2)
Short Stories and Novels	197	(1)
Remember This!	198	(1)
Selections for Analysis and Oral Interpretation	198	(29)
from June Recital	198	(2)
Eudora Welty
from The Joy Luck Club	200	(3)
Amy Tan
from The Revolution Remembered	203	(2)
John C. Dann
from Everything We Had	205	(2)
Al Santoli
from The Seacoast of Despair	207	(4)
Joan Didion
from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings	211	(2)
Maya Angelou
from Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey	213	(4)
Lillian Schlissel
The Makeup Artist	217	(2)
Dana Tierney
To Austin Dickinson	219	(2)
Emily Dickinson
from Working	221	(3)
Studs Terkel
Keep Out! (A Boy's Bedroom)	224	(3)
Lynda Barry
Bibliography	227	(4)
Narration	231	(56)
Expect This!	231	(2)
Who Is Telling the Story? Point of View	233	(8)
First-Person Narrators	234	(2)
Second-Person Narrators	236	(2)
Third-Person Narrators	238	(3)
What Is Going on Here? Action and Plot	241	(1)
What Sort of People Live in This Story? Character	242	(1)
What Are They Saying to Each Other? Dialogue	243	(2)
Creating Character	245	(2)
Where Is All This Taking Place? Setting	247	(1)
Cutting and Excerpting	248	(2)
Analyzing the Rehearsal and the Performance	250	(3)
Remember This!	253	(1)
Selections for Analysis and Oral Interpretation	253	(32)
The Prison	254	(5)
Bernard Malamud
A & P	259	(6)
John Updike
Snow	265	(2)
Ann Beattie
from Sula	267	(2)
Toni Morrison
from The Lost Language of Cranes	269	(3)
David Leavitt
Popular Mechanics	272	(1)
Raymond Carver
Jacob's Chicken	273	(2)
Milos Macourek
The Key to My Father	275	(5)
Harlan Coben
from The Conversion of the Jews	280	(5)
Philip Roth
Bibliography	285	(2)
PART THREE Interpretation of Drama	287	(92)
Solo Performance of Drama	289	(46)
Expect This!	289	(1)
The Nature of Drama	290	(1)
Why Perform Drama?	291	(1)
What Is the Difference Between Acting and Interpretation?	292	(2)
Structural Elements of a Play	294	(1)
Analyzing a Scene	295	(4)
Working a Scene	299	(7)
Rhythm	306	(1)
Style	307	(1)
Scenography	308	(1)
Putting It Together	309	(1)
Remember This!	310	(1)
Selections for Analysis and Oral Interpretation	311	(20)
from Fifth of July	311	(2)
Lanford Wilson
from Fires in the Mirror	313	(7)
Anna Deavere Smith
from Othello	320	(3)
William Shakespeare
from She Stoops to Conquer	323	(4)
Oliver Goldsmith
from Flyin' West	327	(4)
Pearl Cleage
Bibliography	331	(4)
Technique in Drama	335	(44)
Expect This!	335	(2)
Technique in Interpretation	337	(4)
Control	338	(1)
Memorizing Lines	339	(1)
Setting the Scene	340	(1)
Properties	341	(2)
Embodying Characters	343	(1)
Coordinating Bodies and Voices of Characters	344	(3)
Gender Roles	344	(1)
Clothes and Voice	345	(1)
Special Situations	346	(1)
Physical Contact	347	(1)
Interplay of Characters	348	(2)
Picking Up Cues	349	(1)
Physical Focus	350	(5)
Methods of Focus	351	(1)
Angle of Placement	352	(3)
The Reading Stand	355	(1)
Cutting and Excerpting	356	(1)
Analyzing the Rehearsal and the Performance	357	(2)
Remember This!	359	(1)
Selections for Analysis and Oral Interpretation	360	(18)
from Sunday in the Park with George	360	(2)
Stephen Sondheim
from Curse of the Starving Class	362	(3)
Sam Shepard
from Romeo and Juliet	365	(2)
William Shakespeare
from Betrayal, Scene Five	367	(6)
Harold Pinter
from Death and the King's Horseman	373	(5)
Wole Soyinka
Bibliography	378	(1)
PART FOUR Interpretation of Poetry	379	(90)
Language of Poetry	381	(42)
Expect This!	381	(2)
Poetic Content	383	(2)
Classification of Poetry	385	(7)
Narrative Poetry	385	(2)
Lyric Poetry	387	(2)
Dramatic Poetry	389	(2)
Music and Dramatic Poetry	391	(1)
Figurative Language	392	(6)
Allusions	393	(1)
Figures of Speech	394	(2)
Sensory Appeals	396	(1)
To Autumn	396	(2)
John Keats
Poetic Syntax	398	(2)
Tone Color	400	(2)
Titles	402	(1)
Analysis and Poems	403	(1)
Remember This!	404	(1)
Selections for Analysis and Oral Interpretation	404	(16)
Power	404	(2)
Corrine Hales
The Windhover	406	(1)
Gerard Manley Hopkins
The Toast	407	(1)
Susan Minot
Wild Grapes	407	(3)
Robert Frost
Spring is like a perhaps hand, e.e. cummings	410	(1)
The House Was Quiet and the World Was Calm	411	(1)
Wallace Stevens
Nikki-Rosa	411	(2)
Nikki Giovanni
Saving Memory	413	(1)
Mary Stewart Hammond
Mid-Term Break	414	(1)
Seamus Heaney
On Sleeping Together	415	(1)
Barbara Howes
Talking in Bed	416	(1)
Philip Larkin
The Hospital Window	416	(2)
James Dickey
Most Like an Arch This Marriage	418	(1)
John Ciardi
First Grade	418	(1)
William Stafford
Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note	419	(1)
Imamu Amiri Baraka
Bibliography	420	(3)
Structure of Poetry	423	(46)
Expect This!	423	(2)
Why Study Prosody?	425	(1)
Kinds of Verse	426	(3)
The Stanza	429	(1)
The Line	430	(7)
Foot Prosody	430	(1)
Scanning the Poem	431	(2)
Stress Prosody	433	(1)
Syllabic Prosody	433	(1)
Open the Gates	433	(2)
Stanley Kunitz
Interpreter's Use of Line Lengths	435	(2)
Cadences	437	(3)
Rhyme	440	(2)
Intention and Performance	442	(1)
Analyzing the Rehearsal and the Performance	443	(1)
Remember This!	444	(1)
Selections for Analysis and Oral Interpretation	444	(21)
One Art	445	(1)
Elizabeth Bishop
The Waking	445	(1)
Theodore Roethke
Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night	446	(1)
Dylan Thomas
Journey of the Magi	447	(1)
T.S. Eliot
The Magi	448	(1)
Louise Gluck
A Blessing	449	(1)
James Wright
Heartbeats	450	(1)
Melvin Dixon
Who Among You Knows the Essence of Garlic?	451	(2)
Garrett Kaoru Hongo
My Last Duchess	453	(2)
Robert Browning
The Kilgore Rangerette Whose Life Was Ruined	455	(2)
Cynthia MacDonald
from Fatal Interview	457	(1)
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Cinderella	457	(3)
Anne Sexton
Cinderella's Story	460	(3)
Mona van Duyn
Today Is a Day of Great Joy	463	(1)
Victor Hernandez Cruz
from Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful	464	(1)
Alice Walker
Bibliography	465	(4)
PART FIVE Group Performance	469	(50)
Group Performance of Literature	471	(48)
Expect This!	471	(2)
Readers Theater	473	(5)
Differences from Familiar Theatrical Conventions	474	(2)
Technical Cautions	476	(2)
Chamber Theater	478	(7)
A Sample Chamber Theater Script	479	(6)
Group Performance of Compiled Scripts	485	(3)
Other Kinds of Literature	488	(1)
Concrete Poetry	488	(1)
Film Scripts	489	(1)
Directing the Group Performance of Literature	489	(3)
Some Concluding Cautions	492	(1)
Analyzing the Rehearsal and the Performance	493	(2)
Remember This!	495	(1)
Selections for Analysis and Oral Interpretation	495	(22)
from The Metamorphoses	496	(4)
Ovid
from The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Section III	500	(3)
Bertolt Brecht
40-Love	503	(1)
Roger McGough
Forsythia	504	(1)
Mary Ellen Solt
Apfel	505	(1)
Reinhard Dohl
from Oedipus the King	506	(4)
Sophocles
Unforgiven	510	(3)
David Ray
After the Overdose	513	(1)
Robin Robertson
from Sunday Bloody Sunday	514	(3)
Penelope Gilliatt
Bibliography	517	(2)
APPENDIX A Building and Presenting a Program	519	(9)
Selecting Material	519	(1)
Unifying the Program: A Traditional Method	520	(1)
Using Multiple Readers, Different Types of Literature, and Multimedia	521	(1)
Staging the New York Times	522	(2)
Other Options	524	(1)
Adapting to the Audience	525	(1)
Timing	526	(2)
APPENDIX B A Brief History of Theories of Interpretation	528	(10)
Bibliography	536	(2)
Acknowledgments	538	(7)
Subject Index	545	(5)
Author and Selection Index	550