Spoken word

MacDowell Fellow Erika Renee Land performing at the Newberry Library in Chicago during the Surviving The Long Wars Triennial

Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an ancient oral artistic 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 "catchall" 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.[1] Unlike written poetry, the poetic text takes its quality less from the visual aesthetics on a page, but depends more on phonaesthetics, or the aesthetics of sound.

  1. ^ Hirsch, Edward (8 April 2014). A Poet's Glossary. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0151011957.