Animal Farm Project: Poem.

Mr. Jones was a cruel old man,

Who drank too much as he farmed the land.

The animals despised him for always yellin’

And Old Major informed them of the upcoming rebellion.

Soon enough the battle was fought

Leaving Mr. Jones and the humans distraught.

As they had feared, the animals had won,

And were under the leadership of Snowball and Napoleon.

Snowball came up with lots of ideas,

But Napoleon disagreed, and sent dogs on his heels.

After that day,

If anyone disobeyed,

Napoleon would surely have it his way.

He changed the commandments to fit his desires

And to cover the truth, that he was a liar.

He went against everything the rebellion was for,

But no one could stop him

He was wicked to the core!

He kept all the apples and milk for the pigs,

in comparison the animals looked like skeletal twigs.

Power corrupted Mr. Napoleon,

he abused his authority after the rebellion.

He blamed everything dreadful on poor Snowball,

and viciously killed his fellow animals.

Soon enough, he walked on two legs

and resembled a human, much more than a pig.

Poetry Out Loud Performances

I watched Stanley Jackson recite the poem "Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar. The first thing that stood out to me about Stanley's performance was his physical presence. He seemed very confident and when he made gestures they were meaningful. His voice and articulation were also really great, he changed the quality of his voice throughout the poem to convey different emotions. He had a very repetitive poem, but he managed to keep it interesting by subtly changing how he said the line each time.

Stanley did a really nice job of conveying the poems meaning with his voice. At the beginning he uses a wistful tone to describe the bird, but throughout the poem shifts to a more angry tone, then desperate. My interpretation of the poem was that he understands that the bird won't give up hope to escape, no matter how much it hurts him. He related this to his own life somehow and felt sympathy for the bird. He knows the pain and realizes that the bird is crying for help, not singing a song. I think the meaning of this poem is perseverance, and fighting to change things.