ABSTRACT
The ‘page/stage divide’ is a familiar device for examining the difference between literary poetry and performance poetry. Poems that entrance audiences in performance are judged not to work ‘on the page’. Similarly, muted readings at literary festivals are often compared unfavourably with dynamic performances at Poetry Slams and Spoken Word nights.
This chapter proposes that the defining difference between spoken word/performance poetry and literary poetry is not simply related to differences between the mediums of printed page and spoken word. It proposes that there are a number of different critical approaches that can appraise literary and performance poetry in either medium. These critical approaches can be pared down to the contrast between the social experience of the poem and the private experience of the poem.
Contrary to the assumptions noted above regarding page and stage, these private and social aspects of a poem are not exclusive to either medium. The private experience of a poem can be recreated in a live setting, the social experience of a poem can be recreated through solitary reading and vice versa.
