Cover of the textbook Focus 5 - Student's Book

The key answer of exercise 2

The key to exercise solutions in chapter 7.2 - Reading for the textbook Focus 5 - Student's Book with authors Vaughan Jones and Sue Kay from Pearson Education

Question

Listen to an extract from a radio programme about the history of performance poetry and make notes under the headings below.

Answer

Poetry in ancient time

  • epic poems about love, war and peace, gods, grief and loss recited to music by a poet-singer; Homer's Odyssey

The advent of printing

  • print introduced in the 15th century
  • poets as writers instead of entertainers
  • poetry read in solitude rather than listened to

Beat movement

  • American literary movement started in 1950s
  • spoken-word performances
  • Allen Ginsberg

Open mis nights and poetry slams

  • introduced in 1980s
  • unknown poets performed their work on stage
  • competitors have time limit to present their work to judges

The origins of hip-hop and rap

  • arose from urban unrest in 1970s and 1980s
  • non-traditional poets

Spoken / Performance poetry

  • one of the most popular forms of poetry nowadays
  • YouTube and other media outlets are used