Recitation of Epics: The Audience

While we were presenting our poems in the last week and a half, I definitely began to see the huge role that the audience plays in an oral performance. I was smiling through every single poem, and, in looking around the room, I noticed that everyone else was, too. It was really fun to see the class getting so into the performances. People fed off of the energy in the room and made their gestures bigger and greater than they might have normally. We all incorporated Ong's idea of a participatory quality in our stories in order that we could draw the group in. I hope that our group presentations are just as memorable.