Poetry Reading-Gabby Singh

I thought that it was really interesting to learn about the different time periods and how they related to the Italian poetry. I think there was definitely a good point made: In American literature there always has been a variety…it’s more eclectic, however; there have been general styles that were more popular during certain times. That doesn’t mean that they dominated that era, nor does it mean that it was directly linked to the events/occurrences of the time, as in Italy. The two pieces that I found the most enjoyed were the one that used comedy to depict a scene in which there were people getting ready to go to war and the last one, which was much different than the others because it used many sounds to express ideas. The poetry reading really wasn’t what I had expected. I figured I would show up, and they would read the poetry solely in Italian and there would be no English spoken. Jazmine’s lesson that accompanied the poetry was a pleasant surprise. I especially appreciated the gestures that accompanied the poetry by Professoressa Zampolli because it made more clear what she was speaking, as well as being entertaining. I am curious if there is a connection between the names given to the different periods since some of them are numerically relavent, while others are not. For example, there are “duecento,” “Trecento,” “Seicento,” “settecente,” “ottocento,” and “novecento.” These aren’t exactly creative, but they aren’t all numbers. I think that it is interesting that poetry, which has played such a large role in Italian culture/society, no longer is significant in daily life, yet in our country, good poetry is still something that people create/appreciate. It is very common for us to have poetry readings, or poetry slams. It is especially popular in a coffee shop setting. There is something very alluring and hip about it yet to us. This may be due to it never holding extreme importance for us. It has always been something that was treasured purely for its art-form, not because it was actually important.