“Found” Poems
The Great Gatsby
Directions: Create a ‘found’ poem – at least 10 lines long – from Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. As you do so,
pay close attention to Fitzgerald’s use of language. Use your newly honed poetic skills to craft your discoveries
into an effective poem.
Getting started:
1. Find a scene that you can visualize, with strong sensory details or charged dialogue.
2. Copy down Fitzgerald’s words. Then re-arrange the words to create a ‘found’ poem.
· Re-order words so that you communicate images or emotions clearly.
· Omit words that aren’t necessary.
· Change punctuation, capitalization, verb tense, plurals, or possessives, as necessary.
· Add up to four words of your own, if you absolutely need to add something to make the poem flow more
smoothly or to make sense.
Space or arrange the words so they are poem-like. Pay attention to line breaks, layout, and other elements that will
emphasize important words or significant ideas in the poem,
· Read your draft aloud as you rearrange the words. Test the possible line breaks by pausing slightly. If it
sounds good, it’s probably right.
· Arrange the words so that they make a rhythm you like. You can space words out so that they are all
alone or allruntogether.
· You can also put key words on lines by themselves.
· You can shape the entire poem so that it’s wide or tall or shaped like an object (say a heart?)
4. Choose a title. Type your poem.
Examples (from Of Mice and Men):
South of Soledad
Golden foothills curve up to strong and rocky Gabilan Mountains.
The Salinas River runs deep and green.
Warm water slips twinkling over the yellow sands.
Green spring willows carry debris from the winter’s flooding.
Sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs arch over the pool.
Leaves lie deep and crisp on the sandy bank.
A lizard makes a great skittering, running among them.
Rabbits sit on the sand in the evening.
The damp flats are covered
with the night tracks of ‘coons,
with the spread pads of dogs from the ranches, and
with the split-wedge tracks of deer that come to drink in the dark.
-page 1
Lennie, Lennie!
“For God’ sakes, don’t drink so much.
Lennie, Lennie! You gonna be sick like you was last night.”
“Tha’s good. You drink some, George.
You take a good big drink.”
“Lennie, Lennie! I ain’t sure it’s good water.
Looks kinda scummy.
Tastes all right.
Don’t seem to be running though.
You never outa drink water when it ain’t running.
Lennie, you’d drink out of a gutter if you was thirsty.”
-page 3