By Lilah Nick
On February 7th, Senior Isabella Goetschel found out that she won the Riverside county-level competition for the Poetry Out Loud, the national poetry recitation competition. You might remember; Isabella was our school winner. She advanced to county competition, won, and this means she will move on to the state-level competition. If Izzy wins at State, she will be awarded $200 and will move onto nationals. (The competition is virtual again this year; otherwise, Isabella would also win a trip to D.C. for two.) I asked Izzy what she was doing to prepare for the competition.
Preparing for state-level Poetry Out Loud has been really interesting. I got to pick a new poem, which is really exciting for me because there are so many options and possibilities. I finally picked “The Man He Killed” by Thomas Hardy as my third poem. For preparation, I’ve had some meetings with Mr. Sarkis [former Palm Valley Drama teacher]. He’s really helped me perfect each poem and, of course, none of it would have been possible without the help of Ms. Zachik who helped me register and get set up. It’s a lot less stressful this year because the competition is online, so I can record my poems. That definitely has its own set of challenges though. The rules for the videos are quite strict, and let’s just say I had a very unstable stack of boxes to get my phone to the required height. Overall though, it’s really fun to be able to perform, even if it’s on a recording in my room rather than in front of people.”
Isabella Goetschel
Isabella must recite, from memory and with displayed and conveyed understanding, one poem that is pre-20th Century. She again is reciting “Epitaph” by Katherine Philips–the poem with which she won the Palm-Valley competition. She also must recite one poem that is 25 lines or fewer. She’ll bring John Berryman’s “Dream Song 14” to the competition to satisfy that requirement. Then, should she advance to the finals during state competition, she will need a third poem. That’s when Thomas Hardy’s “The Man He Killed” comes into play. We’ve reprinted the poem for you here.
The state competition poems and video entries are due to POL this Monday, March 7th. The judging takes place the following Tuesday and Wednesday. We should hear on the 11th who advances to the National Poetry Out Loud Competition. We will all be cheering for Izzy!
The Man He Killed
By Thomas Hardy
“Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have sat us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!
“But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me
And killed him in his place.
“I shot him dead becuase —
Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of corse he was;
That’s clear enough; although
“He thought he’d ‘list, perhaps,
Off-hand like — just as I —
Was out of work — had sold his traps —
No other reason why.
“Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You’d treat if me where any bar is
Or help to half-a-crown.”