Which do you prefer, live or textual presentations?

After viewing both a live performance and spoken textual representation of Taylor's Mali poem, I have realized the catastrophic differences that these two renditions have. When the author of a piece recites his poem on stage, the effect that it has is shown to a greater extent. There is still emphasis on Taylor's meaning when we hearing his poem, while watching the words create a unique structure in our minds, but I felt less engaged in his work. In his video, facial expressions, hand gestures, and emotions can all be interpreted; however, the textual writing takes away from these additions to the main argument. Written text does allow for the reader to visually and audibly grasp the main idea though.

Seeing the possibly dorky man speak about his issue of "sounding cool," adds to the humor of the poem. "You know what I'm sayin"? Both texts are able to successfully convey his message that, "We are the most aggressively inarticulate generation to come along since you know a long time ago". The orally and visual productions continue to say, "It is not enough to simply question authority you have to speak with it too." However, the live performance enhanced my understanding more than the oral depiction conveyed the message to me because it was more lively, realistic, and imaginable.