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The Africans especially, developed a system whereby they could keep their history and tradition alive. They developed an oral tradition of passing down information from one generation to the other. When the Africans were brought to America and to other parts of the world as slaves, they took with them their cultures, customs and languages and had to find ways to keep their origin alive. As a result of this situation, the slaves were able to perfect the art of expression through storytelling and songs. The oral tradition of telling stories is a powerful tool that transforms the listener and the storyteller into time and takes him on a journey to his roots. Oral poetry links the past with the present and causes the listener to relive the past.
The European influence of written literature try to infiltrate and drown the oral tradition of literature but the Africans kept their tradition alive. Modern written literature was introduced by the Europeans who try to incorporate the written with the oral, but the oral takes precedence. The African American embraces storytelling because it brings out the emotional side of their past that they cannot forget.
Spoken word poetry is poetry that is performed on stage. This art was instituted in the 1980’s to intensify the awareness in the art of poetry readings. This art form is meant to be heard not read. Smith (2009) says that “this is a form of black poetry that has evolved into an international art .. poetic excellence”. This form of poetry is not written. This takes the form of poetry which comes from the traditional way of reciting poetry. All poetry comes from oral tradition. In ancient times in Greece travelling bards would walk around reciting poetry. It was long afterwards that poetry was put in writing (Frass 2003). Slam is a means of celebrating the art of the oral performance that connects the audience with the writer and also a people’s past.
Slam poetry is similar to telling a story, something that is quite similar to the oral tradition of telling stories. In Africa, teaching the people about their history and way of life was done through oral tradition. Everything was done through story telling; from keeping records of farming to the birth of a baby, were done by tradition, so the oral tradition steeped with the spoken word, went hand in hand. Both slam, which could also be referred to as the spoken word, and the oral tradition of poetry, command and audience. Poetry is used mainly for expressing a desire or an issue that needs to be resolved or attended to. The spoken words are utterances that command one to stop and listen, so does the oral form. When both are in action they require a response. Traditions of culture and the way of life of people were told by word of mouth, now poetry is delivered in the same way, by word of mouth so both embodies the oral tradition as well as the spoken word.
Works Cited
http://sosophrank.wordpress.com/2009/06/04/understanding-spoken-word/ web. Retrieved July
3, 2014
The African American Spoken Word. ‘Say it Loud’
https://www.folkways.si.edu/explore_folkways/spoken_word.aspx. Web. Retrieved July
2, 2014
Wiesenhofer, Rebekah. Slam Poetry and the Poetry Slam. School of Library and Information Science,
Indiana University, Bloomington, 1320 E. 10th St., LI001, Bloomington, IN 47405
