An Audio Guide to Poetry Recitation - 1. Introduction

"O thin men of Haddam,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird
Walks around the feet
Of the women about you? "

"But let the world dream otherwise, we wear the mask."

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
  Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'

"To drive free! to love free! to dash reckless and dangerous!"

"I should have been a pair of ragged claws   
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas."

"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

Welcome to Poetry Out Loud, the National Recitation Contest, a new program created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. I am Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. We put together this special CD, for teachers and students, to help you master the art of performing poetry. To create this CD, we asked some of America's best writers and actors to recite their favorite poems and discuss what poetry means to them. You will hear some of the greatest verse ever written in English. But first, I want to talk to you about how poetry might just change your life.