Throughout the Ted talk If I Should Have a Daughter by Sarah Kay, Kay explains the effect that she believes spoken word has on people. She adds that spoken word should use what you know but also ask to understand what you don't know. She encourages her students and the audience to express vulnerability to be able to learn and enjoy the world to its fullest extent. She uses examples of how spoken word has changed her life as well as her students'.
Kay uses ethos in her presentation, but not in the way that we would expect. Kay is qualified to make her arguments because she opens her talk with her own personal spoken word poetry. This allows the audience to witness her talent and is an excellent "hook" for the audience. After the audience can see her talent, she goes on to explain the importance of poetry and how to be more open to the world. We, as the audience, tend to accept her arguments because she has proven herself as a successful, talented poet.
Her presentation is loaded with pathos as emotion is a key aspect to spoken word poetry. The infliction of her voice and passion she puts into her words convey her personal emotions and trigger an emotional response in the audience. This connects her to the audience and allows them to understand her poetry better and take her more seriously. For example, the way she speaks to her "daughter" in her first poem relates to anyone who has a daughter or child and allows them to reflect on what they teach their children. She focuses on telling her figurative daughter about the dangers that are present in the world and not allowing them to change her or bring her down. This is an idea that most people can understand as most people do not have everyone they've ever met in agreement with them on everything. This allows for sympathy in the audience.
Probably the least apparent of the 3 in this presentation is logos, as Kay focuses mostly on her opinions and emotional responses as a way of knowing. However, the way she presents emotion to support her arguments seems purely logical in context. She entices the audience to open up to the world and learn to fail. She asks to apologize when you're wrong, but never apologize for who you are.
This is something that really resonates with me. I'd seen the first poem in this talk in a past English class and I could remember vaguely what it was about. I remembered that I loved it (I also think spoken word poetry is super cool) so I decided to watch the whole thing. Turns out, I really relate to it right now as I'm finding that I constantly have to be on my toes with how I present myself to the world and what I say. I hate it. It seems that often when I am trying my hardest to be the best I can be, somehow it is misconstrued and causes someone to get offended anyways. It makes me wish that we lived in a world where people didn't expect the worst out of everyone. We are forced to see so much evil in the world every day that it has become hard to find the good.
This makes me feel like I constantly have to apologize for simply being human. I understand more than anyone just how many mistakes I make, but I also know that I try my hardest not to make them. I don't know how much I agree with Kay's opinion on being vulnerable to the world. I am in no way a cynic, but I do know that the world is a harsh place and if you don't have a thick skin you could get really hurt. However, I do believe that there is so much good in the world that we miss daily because we're too focused on finding the evil. Taking risks is scary, but it is important in order to learn new things and improve. So I have to learn to find balance in this contradiction. I don't know if I agree completely with Kay, but overall, I completely agree that you should not have to apologize for being who you are.
I can relate to everything you're saying on a spiritual level. I always find myself apologizing for taking up space, for just living. I don't want to get too preach-y, but since we live in a society that values patriarchy, we were born with the short end of the stick because we carry two X's instead of one. We feel like we need to apologize because we are subconsciously taught since infancy that being a girl is not favorable in society. When boys are told, "don't be such a girl," it tells us that being a girl is wrong. I literally could go on for days, but anyway, I really enjoyed reading your post because I can relate to everything, and because you thoroughly explained why you chose it. I really like how you talked about how logos wasn't really present, but that you could take logos from the emotion appeal. To what extent does spoken word affect the way knowledge is manipulated? How is knowledge expressed in poetry reliable as a way of knowing? Your post was great! Also, remember that you're absolutely wonderful!
ReplyDeletewow, thank you so much Shaunaci! You are too!
DeleteI liked a lot of the points you brought up! I really liked how you said you often feel like you have to apologize for being human. A large part of being human is making mistake and learning from these mistakes. Sure we all make a lot of mistakes but we also do a lot of good trying to improve the situation after the mistake is made. People sometimes overlook this good and only focus on the negative. I also like how you said that the speakers used emotion to connect with the audience. I believe that when telling a story, provoking and showing emotion really provides an extra spark. The most effective storytellers use emotion to accomplish their purpose for telling the story.
ReplyDeleteLove Sarah Kay- check out some of her other spoken word pieces (they're all pretty fab)
ReplyDeleteThis was a cool perspective on spoken word. I've always thought of it as a bit too artsy for me (come on, the curtains are blue,) but I can really see how people connect to it on an emotional level. I'm usually more for spoken word about political issues, but this one is really interesting and brings up a point that most people can really relate to. Nice analysis!
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