Animal Farm Project

They started out

With these "great" ideas

Revolving around a rebellion.

I knew it wouldn't turn out good,

But no one listens to the donkey.

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

We gained controll of the farm,

Drove old Jones away,

And things started out good.

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

The rations were larger,

We were doing less work,

But like they say,

Good things don't last forever.

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

The pigs learned to read and write,

Inscribed the Seven Commandments on the barn,

And they became the law,

For every animal to abide by.

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

The talk of ideals continued,

Dreams of a windmill,

And three-day weeks were conjured,

Too good to be true.

That was when things changed.

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

Napoleon drove Snowball off the farm,

By use of the dogs he had taught,

Then had some animals

Executed for minor crimes.

The next day, the 6th Commandment read;

"No animal shall kill any other animal without cause."

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

By now the pigs were living in the farm house,

A place we said no one would ever enter again.

Word had long since spread

Of them sleeping in beds.

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

Slowly over the years,

The "ideals" Major had talked about,

Became nothing but a forgotten speach.

The pigs had now changed ever Commandment,

Into something that better suited them.

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

The other animals thought

That maybe they had remembered

Something different,

But Squealer was always able

To persuade them differently.

"Four legs good, two legs bad."

Not only did the pigs

Begin to wear clothes,

But they started walking on two legs.

By the end,

The only Commandment left was

"All animals are equal

But some animals are more equal that others."

"Four legs good, two legs even better."

POL performances: Facing It

I think that Branden Emanuel Wellington's performance of the poem "Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa was very effective and did justice to the poem. His voice was rough, as it should be, but not so much that you couldn't understand him. He used hand gestures, though not nervous ones or acted out the poem. His dramatization was not over the top nor could it have needed more. Wellington seemed confident, even though the poem is about a non-confident veteran losing his self identity.

I think that this poem is about a Vietnam War veteran feeling survivor's guilt that he survived but his comrades didn't. He looks at the names on the wall, feeling like his should be among them. Wellington enhanced this by sounding confused and sad as he said certain lines. His facial expressions helped with his dramatization and showing the meaning. You have to face it, whether it be your reflexion in the cold, hard granit, or a past full of unwanted memories you cannot change.