Spoken word

Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem's as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition, most notably the Greek oral-formulaic tradition, which produced the oldest works in the Western tradition, that focuses on the aesthetics of recitation and word play, such as the performer's live intonation and voice inflection. Spoken word is a catch-all term that includes any kind of poetry recited aloud, including poetry readings, poetry slams, jazz poetry, pianologues, musical readings, and hip hop music, and can include comedy routines and prose monologues. Unlike written poetry, the quality of spoken word is shaped less by the visual aesthetics on a page, and more from phonaesthetics or the aesthetics of sound.

History

Spoken word has existed for many years; long before writing, through a cycle of practicing, listening and memorizing, each language drew on its resources of sound structure for aural patterns that made spoken poetry very different from ordinary discourse and easier to commit to memory. "There were poets long before there were printing presses, poetry is primarily oral utterance, to be said aloud, to be heard."

Poetry, like music, appeals to the ear, an effect known as euphony or onomatopoeia, a device to represent a thing or action by a word that imitates sound. "Speak again, Speak like rain" was how a poet of the Kikuyu people, an East African people, described her verse to author Isak Dinesen, confirming a comment by T. S. Eliot that "poetry remains one person talking to another".

The oral tradition is one that is conveyed primarily by speech as opposed to writing. In predominantly oral cultures proverbs (also known as maxims) are convenient vehicles for conveying simple beliefs and cultural attitudes. "The hearing knowledge we bring to the line of poetry is a knowledge of a pattern of speech we have known since we were infants".