LibGuides: Declamation: Home

Public Declamation schedule

2023-24 dates

First Public Declamation -- Class VI audience

Interest form due Tuesday, 9/28/23
Tryouts Thursday, 10/5/23, 2:30 in BLS auditorium
Declamation Thursday, 10/12/23, R1-R2

Second Public Declamation -- Class IV audience

Interest form due Thursday, 11/30/23
Tryouts Thursday, 12/7/23, 2:30 in BLS auditorium
Declamation Tuesday, 12/20/23, R1-R2

Third Public Declamation -- Class III audience

Interest form due Thursday, 1/18/24
Tryouts Thursday, 1/25/24, 2:30 in BLS auditorium
Declamation Thursday, 2/8/24, R1-R2

Fourth Public Declamation -- Class V audience

Interest form due Thursday, 3/14/24
Tryouts Thursday, 3/21/24, 2:30 in BLS auditorium
Declamation Thursday, 3/28/24, R1-R2

Prize Declamation -- Class I & II, alumni 

Friday, 5/3/24

Staff

For the 2023-24 academic year, the following staff members coordinate Public and Prize Declamation. Please reach out with any questions:

Susan Harari, Keefe Librarian
John Kerpan, Classics

Introduction

Public Declamation has a long and rich history at Boston Latin School. A part of the earliest classical curriculum in colonial times, the tradition, lost over time, was revived in the nineteenth century, and has been in place ever since. For the last hundred years, BLS students have chosen, memorized, and interpreted excerpts from poems, novels, speeches, plays, essays, and works of nonfiction to share with their peers, staff, and guests in our auditorium. Four times each year, students compete to earn a spot in the Public Declamation performance, given for their peers in our assembly hall. The final performance each year, Prize Declamation, takes place on Reunion Weekend in early May, when qualifying students declaim before judges from the 25th and 50th year reunion classes, earning scholarship prizes and honors for their performances.

Texts may include poetry or passages from plays, novels, speeches, or narrative nonfiction works. Students’ presentations are graded on accuracy, interpretation, and oratorical skill.
Tryouts for public declamation are held 4 times a year. A panel of three judges determines which students will be invited to the event.

Mission statement

The Public Declamation program at Boston Latin School facilitates students’ public oration skills, teaching them to speak on their feet with ease and assurance while strengthening their engagement with and interpretation of great writers.

Goals

Declaimers should present works that stimulate and provoke thought.
Declaimers should choose pieces that align with the school’s values.
As audience members, students should listen respectfully to their peers and think deeply about the content and message of the pieces presented.

Values

Read widely and look for personal meaning
Search beyond the familiar
Strive for integrity and excellence

Prize Declamation

Prize declamation participants, 2022

Class declamation

Students in grades 7-10 are typically required to declaim a selection in their English classes three times during the academic calendar. Students’ class performances are graded on accuracy, interpretation, and oratorical skill. Declamation grades appear on the report cad as a separate column designated as “visual/performing arts,” although they are not factored into a student’s GPA.

Students have additional opportunities to declaim in many modern foreign languages and classics courses.
Students cannot repeat a text at any point in their BLS careers for class declamation.
Students can view these class declamations as practice and consider using one of these pieces as try-out material for Public Declamation.