found poem in creative writing

Introduction to Found Poetry

Reading and Writing Blackouts, Erasures, and Other Literary Remixes

Poetic Forms
Favorite Poems & Poets
Best Sellers
Classic Literature
Plays & Drama
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Doctor of Arts, University of Albany, SUNY
M.S., Literacy Education, University of Albany, SUNY
B.A., English, Virginia Commonwealth University

Poetry is everywhere, and it hides in plain view. Everyday writing like catalogs and tax forms can contain the ingredients for a "found poem." Writers of found poetry pull words and phrases from various sources, including news articles, shopping lists, graffiti, historic documents, and even other works of literature. The original language is reformatted to create the found poem.

If you've ever played with a magnetic poetry kit , then you're familiar with found poetry. Words are borrowed, and yet the poem is unique. A successful found poem doesn't simply repeat information. Instead, the poet engages with the text and offers a new context, a contrary view, a fresh insight, or lyrical and evocative writing. Just as plastic bottles can be recycled to make a chair, the source text is transformed into something completely different.

Traditionally, a found poem uses only words from the original source. However, poets have developed many ways to work with found language. Rearranging word order, inserting line breaks and stanzas, and adding new language can be part of the process. Check out these six popular approaches to creating found poems.

1. Dada Poetry

In 1920 when the Dada movement was building up steam, founding member Tristan Tzara proposed to write a poem using random words pulled from a sack. He copied each word exactly as it appeared. The poem that emerged was, of course, an incomprehensible jumble. Using Tzara's method, a found poem drawn from this paragraph might look like this:

Movement up write using pulled steam a; Was when dada member founding the tristan in words; Poem to proposed a from 1920; Building sack random tzara

Outraged critics said Tristan Tzara made a mockery of poetry. But this was his intention. Just as Dada painters and sculptors defied the established art world, Tzara took the air out of literary pretension.

Your Turn: To make your own Dada poem, follow Tzara's instructions or use an online Dada Poem Generator . Have fun with the absurdity of random word arrangements. You may discover unexpected insights and delightful word combinations. Some poets say it's as though the universe conspires to make meaning. But even if your Dada poem is nonsensical, the exercise can spark creativity and inspire more traditional works.

2. Cut-up and Remix Poetry (Découpé)

Like Dada poetry, cut-up and remix poetry (called découpé in French) can be randomly generated. However, writers of cut-up and remix poetry often opt to organize the found words into grammatical lines and stanzas. Unwanted words are discarded.

Beat writer William S. Burroughs championed the cut-up approach during the late 1950s and early '60s. He divided pages of a source text into quarters that he rearranged and turned into poems. Or, alternatively, he folded pages to merge lines and create unexpected juxtapositions.

While his cut and fold poems can seem perplexing, it's clear that Burroughs made deliberate choices. Notice the eerie but consistent mood in this excerpt from "Formed in the Stance," a poem that Burroughs made from a Saturday Evening Post article about cancer cures:

The girls eat morning Dying peoples to a white bone monkey in the Winter sun touching tree of the house. $$$$

Your Turn: To write your own cut-up poems, follow Burrough's methods or experiment with an online cut-up generator . Any type of text is fair game. Borrow words from a car repair manual, a recipe, or a fashion magazine. You can even use another poem, creating a type of cut-up poem known as a a vocabularyclept . Feel free to shape your found language into stanzas, add poetic devices like rhyme and meter , or develop a formal pattern such as a limerick or sonnet .

3. Blackout Poems

Similar to cut-up poetry, a blackout poem begins with an existing text, usually a newspaper. Using a heavy black marker, the writer blots out most of the page. The remaining words are not moved or rearranged. Fixed in place, they float in a sea of darkness. The contrast of black and white stirs thoughts of censorship and secrecy. What's hiding behind the headlines of our daily paper? What does the highlighted text reveal about politics and world events?

The idea of redacting words to create a new work goes back centuries, but the process became trendy when writer and artist Austin Kleon posted newspaper blackout poems online and then published his book and companion blog, Newspaper Blackout .

Evocative and dramatic, blackout poems retain the original typography and word placement. Some artists add graphic designs, while others let the stark words stand on their own.

Your Turn: To create your own blackout poem, all you need is a newspaper and a black marker. View examples on Pinterest and watch Kleon's video, How to Make a Newspaper Blackout Poem .

4. Erasure Poems

An erasure poem is like a photo-negative of a blackout poem. The redacted text is not blackened but erased, clipped out, or obscured beneath white-out, pencil, gouache paint, colored marker, sticky notes, or stamps. Often the shading is translucent, leaving some words slightly visible. The diminished language becomes a poignant subtext to the remaining words.

Erasure poetry is both a literary and a visual art. The poet engages in a dialog with a found text, adding sketches, photographs, and handwritten notations. American poet Mary Ruefle, who has created nearly 50 book-length erasures , argues that each is an original work and should not be classified as found poetry.

"I certainly didn't 'find' any of these pages," Ruefle wrote in an essay about her process . "I made them in my head, just as I do my other work."

Your Turn: To explore the technique, try the online erasure tool from Ruefle's publisher, Wave Books. Or take the art to another level: Forage used bookstores for a vintage novel with interesting illustrations and typography. Give yourself permission to write and draw on time-worn pages. For inspiration, view examples on Pinterest.

In Latin, cento means patchwork, and a cento poem is, indeed, a patchwork of salvaged language. The form dates back to antiquity when Greek and Roman poets recycled lines from revered writers like Homer and Virgil . By juxtaposing lyrical language and presenting new contexts, a cento poet honors literary giants from the past.

After editing a new edition of T he Oxford Book of American Poetry , David Lehman wrote a 49-line " Oxford Cento " composed entirely of lines from the anthologized writers. Twentieth century poet John Ashbery borrowed from more than 40 works for his cento, " To a Waterfowl ." Here's an excerpt:

Go, lovely rose, This is no country for old men. The young Midwinter spring is its own season And a few lilies blow. They that have power to hurt, and will do none. Looking as if she were alive, I call. The vapours weep their burthen to the ground.

Ashbery's poem follows a logical sequence. There's a consistent tone and a coherent meaning. Yet the phrases in this short section are from seven different poems:

“Sailing to Byzantium” by William Butler Yeats
“Four Quartets 4: Little Gidding” by T.S. Eliot
“Heaven-Haven" by Gerard Manley Hopkins
"Sonnet 94" by William Shakespeare
“My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning
"Tithonus" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Your Turn: The cento is a challenging form, so start with no more than four or five favorite poems. Seek out phrases that suggest a common mood or theme. Print several lines on strips of paper that you can rearrange. Experiment with line breaks and explore ways to juxtapose the found language. Do the lines seem to flow together naturally? Have you discovered original insights? You've created a cento!

6. Acrostic Poems and Golden Shovels

In a variation of cento poetry, the writer draws from famous poems but adds new language and new ideas. The borrowed words become a modified acrostic , forming a message within the new poem.

Acrostic poetry suggests many possibilities. The most famous version is the Golden Shovel form popularized by American writer Terrance Hayes .

Hayes won acclaim for his complex and ingenious poem titled " The Golden Shovel ." Each line of Hayes' poem ends with language from " The Pool Players. Seven at the Golden Shovel " by Gwendolyn Brooks. For example, Brooks wrote:

We real cool. We Left school.

Hayes wrote:

When I am so small Da’s sock covers my arm, we cruise at twilight until we find the place the real men lean, bloodshot and translucent with cool. His smile is a gold-plated incantation as we drift by women on bar stools, with nothing left in them but approachlessness. This is a school

Brooks's words (shown here in bold type) are revealed by reading Hayes's poem vertically.

Your Turn: To write your own Golden Shovel, choose a few lines from a poem you admire. Using your own language, write a new poem that shares your perspective or introduces a new topic. End each line of your poem with a word from the source poem. Do not change the order of the borrowed words.

Found Poetry and Plagiarism

Is found poetry cheating? Isn't it plagiarism to use words that aren't your own?

All writing is, as William S. Burroughs argued, a "collage of words read and heard and overhead." No writer begins with a blank page.

That said, writers of found poetry risk plagiarism if they merely copy, summarize, or paraphrase their sources. Successful found poems offer unique word arrangements and new meanings. The borrowed words may be unrecognizable in the context of the found poem.

Even so, it's important for writers of found poetry to credit their sources. Acknowledgments are usually given in the title, as part of an epigraph, or in a notation at the end of the poem.

Sources and Further Reading

Poetry Collections

Dillard, Annie. Mornings like this: found poems . HarperCollins, 2003.
Kleon, Austin. Newspaper Blackout . HarperCollins Publishers, 2014.
McKim, George. Found & Lost: Found Poetry and Visual Poetry . Silver Birch Press, 2015.
Porter, Bern, and Joel A. Lipman et. al. Found Poems. Nightboat Books, 2011.
Ruefle, Mary. A Little White Shadow . Wave Books, 2006.

Resources for Teachers and Writers

William Burroughs, William. "The Cut Up Method." The Moderns: An Anthology of New Writing in America. Leroi Jones, ed., Corinth Books, 1963.
Dunning, Stephen, and William Stafford. "Found and Headline Poems." Getting the Knack: 20 Poetry Writing Exercises. National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), 1992. secure.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Books/Sample/18488chap1.pdf.
King, David Andrew. "The Weight of What's Left [Out}: Six contemporary Erasurists on Their Craft." Kenyon Review , Nov. 6, 2012. https://www.kenyonreview.org/2012/11/erasure-collaborative-interview/ .
“Found Poetry.” Teacher's Guide Primary Source Set , Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/poetry/pdf/teacher_guide.pdf .
“Poetry Prompts.” Found Poetry Review . The journal is no longer publishing, but prompts, poems, and resources are archived on the website. www.foundpoetryreview.com/category/poetry-prompts/ .
Rhodes, Shade. “Reuse and Recycle: Finding Poetry in Canada.” ArcPoetryMagazine , arcpoetry.ca/2013/05/01/reuse-and-recycle-finding-poetry-in-canada-the-full-essay-from-arc-70-2/
Rueffle, Mary. "On Erasure." Quarter After Eight , Vol. 16. http://www.quarteraftereight.org/toc.html .
What Is Ekphrastic Poetry?
An Introduction to Free Verse Poetry
An Introduction to Blank Verse
Lyric Poetry: Expressing Emotion Through Verse
What Is Narrative Poetry? Definition and Examples
Singing the Old Songs: Traditional and Literary Ballads
Overview of Imagism in Poetry
An Introduction to the Song-Like Villanelle Form of Poetry
What Is an Iamb in Poetry?
How to Put Together a Poetry Manuscript for Publication
What Is Enjambment? Definition and Examples
Elegiac Couplets Explained
Internet Research for Lines of Poetry
Understanding the Definition of an Acrostic Poem
The Beat Take on Haiku: Ginsberg's American Sentences
Prosody: Meter of Poetry

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For teachers

How to Write Found Poetry

Contents: What's a found poem? Found poem examples Writing ideas

Found poetry is made by taking language from a non-poetic sources and turning it into poems.

For example, found poems have been made using phrases from textbooks, street signs, news reports, and comic books.

Think of found poetry as a collage made out of words. A visual artist might make a collage from scraps of cloth and paper, postage stamps, buttons, and feathers, putting these elements together in a way that creates something new. You can do the same thing with language.

Writing found poetry is a kind of treasure hunt. Keep an eye out for interesting scraps of language that you might be able to use in a poem. Try putting them together in different ways. Combining seemingly unrelated elements can create a kind of chemical spark, leading to surprising results.

You might end up rewriting the poem and taking out most of the found language, or you might keep the found language almost in its original form. See what effects you can create by breaking the lines in different ways to focus the reader's eye on certain words.

As long as you respect copyright, there are no rules that you have to follow, so experiment and have fun.

seashells in plate, illustrating page on found poetry

Found poetry examples

Below are two poems by Al Fogel, which use texts from the Veteran's Benefits Administration almost verbatim. Mr. Fogel has told us that "Headstone Service" and "VA Automobile" are "about 99% pure." In "pure" found poetry, the poet may add line breaks but does not change or omit the actual words.

Headstone Service

by Al Fogel

(from Directory Of VA Benefits)

Headstone or grave marker furnished upon request to any member of the Armed Forces whose last tour of service was terminated honorably by death Headstone provided without cost

VA Automobile

A veteran who suffered a service-connected loss

of one hand or one foot

or one knee or one hip

or permanent loss of use of

one hand or one foot

or permanent impairment of vision

of both eyes

is entitled to an Automobile Payment up to $9,000 provided

—excluding adaptive equipment

Write a found poem!

Ready to go on a treasure hunt and write some found poetry of your own?

Here are some ideas for places to look for "treasure:"

- newspaper headlines

- horoscopes, fortune cookies

- advertisements, junk mail, brochures

- instruction manuals

- product packaging (e.g., cereal boxes, shampoo bottles)

- Wikipedia articles

- letters, postcards, notes you've left for yourself, phone messages, shopping lists, to-do lists

- school textbooks

- business presentations and reports

- political speeches

- dictionaries

- social media posts

Here are some ideas you can use to write found poems:

1) Take parts of instructions for some appliance such as a microwave. Replace some of the words that refer to the appliance, using words that talk about something else. For example: "Lift the memory carefully. Caution: edges may be sharp..."

Found Poetry - Next Steps

Learn about how to write other types of poems

Found Poetry

Found poetry is a type of poem that’s created using someone else’s words, phrases, or structure.

These words might come from books, other poems, speeches, overheard conversations, or any other written or oral source imaginable. The words might not be the poet’s own, but their organization is what matters. The poet reimagines what the words mean and reorganizes or re-contextualizes them to create something new.

Sometimes the reorganization of words involves cutting out lines from a book, mixing them, and redefining a passage altogether. Other times it might mean adding in more words to create a new meaning or rearranging the letters in individual words to make new ones.

Found poetry is often considered to be the literary equivalent of creating visual art via collage. It is taking already complete source material and re-imagining what it can be. There are numerous very visual examples. For instance, book pages that are drawn on top of, deleting words and sentences, sometimes entire passages, with pen or paint. Therefore, what is deleted sometimes becomes just as important as what remains.

History of Found Poetry and Found Object Art

The form first became widely popular after Dave Forman used it on his television show Dave Gorman: Modern Life is Goodish. In the episodes of the series, he would include a found poem made up of comments he’d received on the internet. Each was topical to the episode it was included in.

Considering that this form of poetry is usually much more visual than other forms, it is even easier to connect to a wider art historical background. The concepts interlaced within found poetry, such as those that deal with authorship and originality, are also found in art movements like Dadaism and the readymades that came out of. The default leader of this movement, Duchamp, is best-known for his urinal, titled Fountain , that was submitted but rejected from the Society of Independent Artists Exhibit in 1917. He, and the other Dadaists, took found objects and presented them as original artworks.

Examples of Found Poetry

Example #1 the humument by tom phillips.

This example of found poetry is a perfect combination of the world of visual art and that of written art. The Humument is a work in progress that Phillips began in the 1960s. It is an altered Victorian book that he found in a second-hand shop and has since been deleting and painting into. He allows some of the original text to show through the paintings, creating poems and statements, as well as a larger story, within the artwork. The work tells a nonlinear narrator of a protagonist named Bill Troge.

Example #2 The Unknown by Hart Seely

Seely’s poem, ‘The Unknown’ was taken from Department of Defense news briefings Donald Rumsfeld. Take a look at the first few lines of text:

As we know, There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know There are known unknowns.

By selectively removing words from the briefing he was able to create this unusual and twisting poem that speaks to the time at which it was written while also utilizing several poetic techniques that make it a great representative of this poetic form . This poem, along with others, was published in Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld in 2003. The poems were later set to music.

Example #3 The Writings of William S. Burroughs

Burroughs, a beat poet , poet-modernist writer and artist of the 1950s and 60s, provides lovers of poetry with a new way of considering how poems are created. He became famous, among other things, for his “cut-up” technique. This technique, which falls into the category of found poetry, involves taking a page of text, cutting it in half and then in half again. These sections get cut into smaller pieces and then smaller yet again. What one has when they finish cutting is rearranged into semi-cohesive sentences, forming an entirely new narrative.

Burroughs’ technique has had a lasting influence on fiction writers, poets, and even musicians. Artists like David Bowie and Brian Eno were influenced by his technique and used it within their own music in the 1970s.

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Baldwin, Emma. "Found Poetry". Poem Analysis , https://poemanalysis.com/poetic-form/found-poetry/ . Accessed 7 September 2024.

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Illustration of "The Lamb" from "Songs of Innocence" by William Blake, 1879. poem; poetry

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Academy of American Poets - Found Poem: Poetic Form

found poem , a poem consisting of words found in a nonpoetic context (such as a product label) and usually broken into lines that convey a verse rhythm. Both the term and the concept are modeled on the objet trouvé (French: “found object”), an artifact not created as art or a natural object that is held to have aesthetic value when taken out of its context.

Artjournalist

Found Poetry: Creative Visual Poems in Your Art

Found Poetry can be a lot of fun to make! Here are some example poems and tips for making your own creative visual poems in your art journals.

Do you love words and poetry? Then this is a fun and creative technique you’re sure to enjoy! Today I’m going to talk all about found poetry – what it is, how to “find” and create it, and of course share some examples of found poetry I’ve made to inspire you to create your own!

What is Found Poetry?

If you’ve never heard of found poetry before, this of course is probably your first question!

From Wikipedia :

Found poetry is a type of poetry created by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other sources and reframing them as poetry by making changes in spacing and lines, or by adding or deleting text, thus imparting new meaning.

Basically, found poetry means finding words in books, magazines, newspapers, and other media and turning it into a poem. It can be a great addition for your art journal, or you may even want to create an art journal specifically for found poetry!

Found Poetry Comes in Many Styles and Forms

There are a lot of different styles and methods for creating these types of poems – and there are a lot of great ways to use them in your art journals and mixed media artwork!

Blackout Poetry: Blacking Out Words to Leave a Poem

Blackout poetry is one of my favorite ways to use up old books in art journaling. With this method, you want to start by first circling some words in a block of text that create a poem.

Then, all you need to do is black out everything else! Some people do this simply by going over the words they don’t want with pen or marker – you can also create an illustration. If the paper is of decent quality and can handle wet media, you could also use paint to go over these extra words.

A Page From William Shakespeare’s Much Ado Nothing

Of course, blackout poems don’t have to be so dark and serious! You can have a lot of fun with this style of creativity.

How about a happy goldfish swimming?

This style of found poetry might seem a little difficult to get the hang of at first, but with some practice starts to get a lot easier!

Don’t Want to Use Actual Books? Use a Blackout Poetry Journal!

Some very clever creative people came up with a wonderful idea to create blackout poetry journals! These are journals that already have text from some of the best classic literature and authors. These journals are all ready for you to start blacking out words – and you don’t have to worry about ruining a good book.

Blackout Poetry Journal: Poetic Therapy (Volume 2)

Some great choices to get started with include Blackout Poetry Journal Volume 1 by Kathryn Maloney and Make Blackout Poetry by John Carroll.

If the idea of writing in a book makes you nervous, then these types of prompted journals are a great choice because you are supposed to write in them!

More Great Inspiration for Blackout Poetry

You should also totally follow John Carroll’s Poetry Page on Instagram – so much inspiration and ideas there! It just goes to show you can go beyond just using a pen or marker, like these examples that use burnt paper and even thread!

[sc name=”Blackout Poetry Instagram”]

Found Poetry With Cut-Out Words

Another fun way to have fun with creating found poetry is to take some of your favorite words and phrases cut out of books and magazines and mix them around magnetic-poetry style for all sorts of different ideas.

For this, all you need are some words cut out from assorted sources and a glue stick!

I love using these sorts of cut-outs of words and pictures even in my everyday regular style of art journaling pages, like my Block by Block art journaling technique .

Then, all you need to do is arrange the words in any way you’d like on a piece of paper or inside your journal!

Using words from magazine advertisements and headlines can sometimes be a little bit tricky when you are trying to write poetry because the words tend to be related to mostly only promotional/motivational types of things.

In this example shown here, I didn’t glue down any of the words yet. I like to move the cut-up words around a bit first to figure out what I’m creating.

Once I’m happy with how the poem looks and sounds, then I’ll get my trusty glue stick to get them down.

Little pieces of paper like this can sometimes have a glossy glare and peel off easily. If you are working with cut-out words and durability matters, I recommend going over them with a very thin layer of Liquitex matte gel medium .

Matte Gel Medium gives you two advantages with collage cut-outs from magazines:

It makes it so your papers aren’t glossy – this helps avoid the “my artwork looks like a kids school project” dilemna.
If you use an acrylic paint brush to apply the gel medium in a very thin layer, you can actually add some brush stroke texture – making the words look like they have been painted on.

The main thing is that you don’t use too much gel medium! If you use too much, it may cause the paper to wrinkle. Wrinkled paper is only fun if that is the artistic effect you are going for!

Fun Inspiration & Resources for Creating Found Poetry

Now that we’ve shown some examples of found poetry and different ways to create it, you might be wondering how you can incorporate this in your art journal. Don’t worry, we of course have some great ideas and resources for you!

1. Find Large-Text Print to Use

Sure, you can use teeny tiny words and cut them all out by hand if you’d like – although that’s not always the most practical! I like to use old kids books for cutting up words, because the text is large and easy to read.

If you are wondering how to organize all of these words when you cut them up, I’ve found that 5×7″ scrapbooking photo storage boxes like these ones by Iris are a great way to keep small pieces of paper together and are fun to sort through!

2. Print Out Words to Cut and Remix into Creative Poems

If you don’t want to use an existing book, another great option is to print out words to use for creating your visual poems. Want to get started right away? We have a great free printable list of words here that you can use in your own artwork.

Another way to do this is to go to the Project Gutenberg website and find public domain books where you can print out the text from old books. This way you don’t have to worry about ruining a classic book!

We also have a list of resources for where to find free printable graphics to use in your artwork !

You can also copy and paste text from some of these literature classics and format as you’d like on your computer. This is easy to do with word processing software programs like Microsoft Word, Pages for Mac, or even Open Office software. The other great thing about this option is you can even choose what types of fonts you would like to use.

3. Try Going Digital

Another fun way to do this easily and with no mess is to go digital. For example, I can start with a scan of an old public domain book page. Then, using Photoshop I can black out text in a number of different ways and add different effects.

Using this other-wise boring math book page shown above, I’ve created this art digitally with Photoshop. No print, paper or cutting out words required!

For this page, I simply used the Rectangular Marquee tool to cut out the words, added a subtle drop shadow, and put a scanned picture of one of my painted pages in the background. Super easy and fun – with no mess to clean up afterwards!

If you happen to have one of the newer Apple iPad Pro tablets with an Apple Pencil – that is also super easy and fun to use. I love using the Apple Pencil because you can basically draw right on top of anything digitally!

Another great option for creating digital works of art on your computer is the Wacom Intuos Tablet . It’s a secret tool top graphic designs and digital artists have been using for years!

Wacom Intuos Pro Digital Graphic Drawing Tablet for Mac or PC, Medium, (PTH660) New Model

4. Have Fun With Friends

This is also a really fun activity to do with a group! It’s always more fun to create with others, and it can be really interesting to see what everyone finds and makes with the different words.

Setting up a “found poetry” station is a great idea for something to do in a classroom if you are a teacher. It’s also something fun you could do as an activity at your local library!

Have Any Found Poetry You Would Like to Share?

Want to share what you create? Join our Facebook Group to share pictures of your creative visual poetry pages – I always love seeing what you make!

What are your thoughts on Found Poetry? Do you like making these types of pages in your art journals? Have any questions about getting started? Feel free to ask or share in the comments below – I’m always happy to try and help!

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What is a Found Poem?

Poem composed of words and phrases found in another text., the art of literary recycling: found poem.

Found poem is like a treasure hunt - you search for words and phrases hidden inside another text and use them to create a new work of art.

It's the ultimate form of literary recycling, breathing new life into discarded or forgotten lines and giving them a new context and meaning.

This technique can be used with any kind of text - from novels, newspaper articles, and instruction manuals to government reports and personal letters. The challenge is to find the right words and put them in the right order to create something that is beautiful, evocative, and original.

A found poem is a clever way to transform ordinary text into an extraordinary work of art. Here are two examples from modern literature:

Seamus Heaney used found poetry in his first collection, Death of a Naturalist , taking lines and phrases from various textbooks and articles to create new poems, such as 'Death of a Naturalist,' 'An Advancement of Learning,' and 'Blackberry-Picking,' which became instant classics in the canon of contemporary poetry.

The Waste Land is often considered to be one of the greatest poems of the 20th century, and it's also a found poem - T. S. Eliot drew inspiration and lines from a wide range of sources, including Shakespeare, Dante, and the Bible, to create a haunting and unforgettable masterpiece.

Loving. Healing. Touching.

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About Poetry

How To Write Poetry

How to write found poetry, found poetry is a fun and creative way to play around with poetry. grab a magazine, scissors, glue, and paper, and find out how to create this type of poetry..

What is found poetry?

Found poetry is a creative way to write a poem using various texts. Essentially, it is a collage of words and phrases found from other pieces of writing.

How do you write a found poem?

Select the material you would like to use for inspiration. It could be magazines, newspapers, pages from a book, or cereal boxes. It could be a mix of all these things. Basically, anything that has words can be used.
Flip through the magazine, newspaper, etc. to see which words or phrases jump out at you.
Cut out the words/phrases that pique your interest. It’s okay if you end up with more than you think you’ll need.
Start playing with their arrangement. As you look at the words you’ve collected, is there a certain topic or theme that stands out to you? Explore that.
Once you decide on the best arrangement of the words, glue them on a piece of paper to create your found poem.

Maybe you want to write multiple poems with the same words. If so, take a picture of the poem you've put together before moving on to the next creation.

If you’re not gluing your words, keep them in a container. That will allow you to come back to use them for a different project at a later time.

You might even want to add magnetic tape to the back of them and create your own magnetic poetry that you’ll be able to use on a whiteboard or a refrigerator.

Can you create a found poem on a phone or tablet?

Yes, there are digital ways to create found poems, so you won’t even need to search for newspapers or magazines to use to cut out words.

Magnetic Poetry has an online option that allows visitors to select from a handful of word kits. The words can be easily manipulated on the screen to create a found poem.

Google Play also offers an Android app that allows users to create found poetry with word lists. Poetry Magnets provides nearly 700 words (with additional lists available for purchase). Unlike Magnetic Poetry, the same word can be used multiple times. Words can also be arranged alphabetically.

Does a found poem have to rhyme?

A found poem is a form of free verse poetry, so it does not have to rhyme. It also does not have to follow specific guidelines pertaining to the number of syllables, lines, or stanzas. You have full creative control.

What is the difference between a found poem and a blackout poem?

A blackout poem is a form of found poetry. With a blackout poem, words are redacted (removed) from a single text to create a poem from one page of writing. Instead of cutting out and rearranging words from multiple texts, the poet works with a single sheet of text to uncover words in the piece that flow nicely to create a poem. Once you are finished with this activity, most of the page will be “blacked out.”

What do you use for a blackout poem?

You will need a sheet of text (from a magazine, newspaper, old book, etc.), a pencil, and a dark Sharpie, marker, or crayon.

How do you write a blackout poem?

Select the material you would like to use. It could be a newspaper or magazine article. Maybe it’s a page from a book you’ve read or an old paper you’ve written.
Read through the article a few times, and use a pencil to lightly circle key words that stand out to you each time you read.
Read through the circled words to find the flow of a poem you like. You might end up getting rid of some of the words you thought you’d keep, and you might add in some smaller words to connect your thoughts.
Once you’ve decided on the words that will be used in the poem, circle them with your marker. Then begin blacking out the rest of the page until you are only left with the words of the poem shining through the darkness of the page.

How do you make a digital blackout poem?

Blackout poetry can also be created online. There’s no need to rip out pages of a book or worry if you accidentally blacken words you want to keep. Changes are very easy to make on a digital version of blackout poetry.

Select a single digital passage you would like to use.
Open Google Slides, Google Docs, Powerpoint, or something similar.
Paste the text and format it the way you’d like it to appear on the page.
Change the background to a color other than white or black. If you’re using Google Docs, you’ll have to change the page color (file-->page setup-->page color).
As you read through the passage, highlight (in white) words/phrases you think you might use in the poem.
Read through the passage multiple times, fine-tuning the highlighted words each time.
Once you are happy with the words you’ve selected and the poem’s flow, change the background to black.
Voila, you have just created a digital blackout poem. Don’t forget to save your work.

With blackout poetry, it can be fun to use the same text with a group of people. Even though everyone has the same piece to start with, each person’s poem will be different.

We hope you have fun with these creative ways to make poetry.

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How to Make a Found Poem

Last Updated: January 23, 2020 References

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 26,320 times.

A found poem uses text from an already existing piece or pieces of work and rearranges the order of the text to change its meaning. The original text can come from sources such as newspaper articles, road signs, speeches, graffiti and even other poems. [1] X Research source Furthermore, found poems are oftentimes assigned to students as a creative writing assignment. They are used to extend a student’s understanding of a unit or text in a new way.

Finding Your Muse

Search for found poems based on works you are familiar with. For example, you could go to Google and type “found poem Romeo and Juliet” to find examples of poems using excerpts of words and phrases from that literary work.
Check out a website devoted to found poetry. A good start would be the website The Found Poetry Review . It provides numerous volumes of found poems written by many authors. [2] X Research source

To generate ideas, take a sheet of paper and at the top of the paper create rows of different categories. For each category, write a list of ideas related to the category that come to mind.
You can also use words from the list of ideas you came up with or take words directly from your source material.

Step 3 Find original texts that you find interesting.

Preparing to Write

Step 1 Compare found poems to the original source.

The Library of Congress has an online lesson plan for writing found poetry that provides both the original text along with a found poem exemplar. For example, they include a found poem based on a primary source titled “The Blizzard of 1888”. [3] X Trustworthy Source Library of Congress Official library of the U.S. and main research institution for Congress and the American public Go to source
Notice how the poet was able to change the sentence context. In the original sentence, a reader can conclude that the focus is on whatever significant event had occurred since “from that day” the mother took on the ritual of making a specific meal each time the speaker came home. However, in the poem, the emphasis is now on the mother celebrating the speaker’s return home by preparing a special meal. [4] X Trustworthy Source Read Write Think Online collection of reading and writing resources for teachers and students. Go to source

Step 2 Reread your selected writing piece.

Choose short phrases, and be sure to jot down enough words and phrases (approximately 50 to 100) so you have plenty to select from during the drafting of your poem. [5] X Trustworthy Source Read Write Think Online collection of reading and writing resources for teachers and students. Go to source
Keep in mind that found poems only contain words from other texts, so make sure you have gathered enough material. [6] X Research source

Step 3 Determine the topic and theme of your poem.

When you think of theme, ask yourself, “what is the overall message or idea about life that is being expressed throughout the work?” For example, let’s say you read a poem with “love” as the topic or subject. To determine the theme, you would have to think about what message is being conveyed about love based on the speaker’s tone or attitude toward the topic. A theme for a poem expressing a positive tone about love could be “love conquers all.”A theme for a poem with a negative tone about love might be “love is painful and not worth the risk.”
Once you have a theme in mind, write it down. This is will help you in determining how to arrange the words you selected from the original source.

Step 4 Narrow down your previously selected words and phrases.

For example, in John Manfield’s poem “Sea Fever,” the speaker’s repeated declaration that he or she “ must go down to the seas again” conveys the speaker’s passionate and yearning attitude towards returning to seafaring life. [7] X Research source

Writing Your Poem

Step 1 Determine the style of your found poem.

The erasure technique is created by choosing one or two pages of original text and deleting the majority of text, and the remaining words and phrases are used to create the found poem. Some examples of poets using this technique include Newspaper Blackouts by Austin Kleon and Nets by Jen Bervin. [8] X Research source
The free-form excerpting and remixing technique is created by selecting a snippet from an existing work and arrange the words and phrases in an order of their liking in order to create the poem. [9] X Research source
The cento technique involves bringing together lines of texts from numerous authors and determine the arrangement of lines to create the found poem. [10] X Research source
The cut up technique literally involves cutting up strips of paper that contains lines of texts and arranging them in an order of your choosing [11] X Research source

Read your poem aloud to yourself. Listen to determine if the line breaks and punctuation effectively conveys the meaning and emotion as you intended. Rearrange the lines, punctuation, and word arrangement as necessary.

It might be helpful to provide the reader with an overview or analysis of the original text. This would help the reader gain a better understanding of how the context of your poem was developed.

Community Q&A

↑ https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/poetic-form-found-poem
↑ http://www.foundpoetryreview.com/
↑ http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/lessons/poetry/procedure.html#example1
↑ http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson1034/sample.pdf
↑ http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson33/found-poem-instructions.pdf
↑ https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-strategies/found-poems
↑ http://allpoetry.com/Sea-Fever
↑ http://www.foundpoetryreview.com/about-found-poetry/
↑ http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88v/burroughs-cutup.html

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Found poems take existing texts and refashion them, reorder them, and present them as poems. The literary equivalent of a collage, found poetry is often made from newspaper articles, street signs, graffiti, speeches, letters, or even other poems.

A pure found poem consists exclusively of outside texts: the words of the poem remain as they were found, with few additions or omissions. Decisions of form, such as where to break a line, are left to the poet.

More about the Found Poem

Examples of found poems can be seen in the work of Blaise Cendrars, David Antin, and Charles Reznikoff . In his book Testimony , Reznikoff created poetry from law reports, such as this excerpt:

Amelia was just fourteen and out of the orphan asylum; at her first job—in the bindery, and yes sir, yes ma’am, oh, so anxious to please. She stood at the table, her blond hair hanging about her shoulders, “knocking up” for Mary and Sadie, the stitchers (“knocking up” is counting books and stacking them in piles to be taken away).

Many poets have also chosen to incorporate snippets of found texts into larger poems, most significantly Ezra Pound . His Cantos includes letters written by presidents and popes, as well as an array of official documents from governments and banks. The Waste Land , by T. S. Eliot , uses many different texts, including Wagnerian opera, Shakespearian theater, and Greek mythology. Other poets who combined found elements with their poetry are William Carlos Williams , Charles Olson , and Louis Zukofsky .

The found poem achieved prominence in the twentieth century, sharing many traits with Pop Art, such as Andy Warhol’s soup cans or Marcel Duchamp’s bicycle wheels and urinals. The writer Annie Dillard has said that turning a text into a poem doubles that poem’s context. “The original meaning remains intact,” she writes, “but now it swings between two poles.”

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Find Poetry: Using Found Poems in School and Public Libraries to Enhance Student Creativity and Writing

Janet Hilbun , PhD, University of North Texas

“Found poems” are a type of poetry “created by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other sources and reframing them as poetry by making changes in spacing and lines, or by adding or deleting text, thus imparting new meaning” ( Wikipedia ). Almost anything can be used to create a found poem, and found poetry can be used in a variety of ways to enhance learning. By using primary sources or textbooks, students can use found poetry as a way to summarize, to analyze, to present facts, to organize information, to create new ideas, and to enhance classroom learning. Examples of ways to use this type of poetry in the classroom and library are provided. Use of found poetry will be linked to cognitive development and educational theory.

A WEEK OF READING

The beginnings:

The moon was low in the sky, as bright and weightless as a lover’s promise. I’m a walker, not a runner . . . The dogs were going to be a problem. Reassured that it was worth what it cost to have it. Folks don’t understand unless it happens to them.

The endings:

I don’t have a choice; I started reading our true story out loud. But I don’t care because I’m so happy, I don’t want to let go. A moment of prayer settles them down. And that was good. And so am I.

Found poems are a type of poetry “created by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other sources and reframing them as poetry by making changes in spacing and lines, or by adding or deleting texts, thus impacting new meaning.” [i] This definition, from Wikipedia , is both a simple yet complete description of this type of poem. Poets.org, the website of the Academy of American Poets, expands on this basic definition: “Found poems take existing texts and refashion them, reorder them, and present them as poems. The literary equivalent of a collage, found poetry is often made from newspaper articles, street signs, graffiti, speeches, letters, or even other poems. A pure found poem consists exclusively of outside texts: the words of the poem remain as they were found, with few additions or omissions. Decisions of form, such as where to break a line, are left to the poet.” [ii]

Almost anything can be used to create a found poem—text from newspapers, magazines, or books; shelves: library, store, pantry; products in your grocery bag; items you find around the house; signs and billboards as you are travelling; graffiti; brand names. And there is no limit as to where poems can be found. (Note: All poems used in this paper are original efforts by the author of the paper.)

For example:

BATHROOM SHELVES

One a day All Natural, Heart Healthy Eliminates odors Daily Moisture.

Caress(ing) Suave Equate with Pert Cool (mint)

Found poems can be used in a variety of ways to enhance learning. By working with primary sources, literary works, or textbooks, students can use writing found poems as a way to summarize, analyze, present facts, organize information, create new ideas, and review for tests. Beyond these, found poems can support learning, improve reading skills, help with retention of factual information, and spark creativity. And sometimes they can be used for simply the joy of writing. Libraries, both school and public, provide a perfect venue for the introduction and writing of found poetry. With their abundance of print resources, and the knowledge and enthusiasm of librarians, libraries can provide a wealth of resources for writing as well as a forum for presenting the found poetry written by their patrons.

A Brief History of Found Poetry

Little information is available about the history of found poetry, but perhaps the beginnings of this form of poetry can be found in the style of writing called “ Ekphrasis ,” which is the practice of writing descriptively about works of art. [iii] This form of poetry began with the ancient Greeks and has continued through history in the works of poets such as Ovid, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Keats, Yeats, and others.

It is also closely related to “research poetry” in which a qualitative researcher “sorts out words, sentences, and passages” to synthesize meaning. [iv] Melissa Cahnmann points out that “developing a poetic voice prepares scholars to discover and communicate findings in multidimensional, penetrating, and more accessible ways.” [v] As to be expected, this form of disseminating research information is not without controversy.

Franz Stanzel points to the Dadaist movement in the visual arts as the predecessor of found poetry, with its use of found objects like coat racks and stovepipes presented as art. [vi] Manina Jones explains, “The resurgence of interest in Dada and the revival of Dadaesque techniques in artistic endeavors like Pop Art and Collage in the 1950s and 1960s was coincident with the popularizing of the found poem.” [vii]

Defining Dadaism [viii]

Not officially a movement, It is artists not artists, It is art not art And this makes perfect sense.

But really Dada was a literary and artistic movement, not form, That began when the horrors of WWI were being played out On the front lawns of citizens. Intellectuals, mostly French and German, Congregated in Zurich And undertook the time-honored tradition of Protesting.

They were fed up And their art became Mild obscenities Scatological humor Visual puns And everyday objects. Shock art.

The public was outraged. The Dadaists found this encouraging.

And the name? “Dada” means “hobby horse” in French; To others it is baby talk. And this made sense to the intellectual artists.

Found poetry is also closely related to the pop culture of the mid-1900s and to Pop Art in that both rely on found and everyday objects. Foss explains, “Found poets used the ‘semantic fallout’ of popular culture.” [ix] In 1969 George Hitchcock published the first anthology of found poems, Losers Weepers: Poems Found Practically Everywhere. Two of the best known and most prolific found poets of the 1960s and 1970s were Bern Porter and Robert Colombo.

The first dictionary definitions for found poetry or found poems were included during the time period from about 1965–70 and were related to the term “found object.” Early practitioners of what is now considered found poetry include James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and T. S. Eliot.

According to poets.org:

Annie Dillard, essayist and Pulitzer Prize winner for Pilgrim at Tinker Creek , published a book of found poems in 1995, Mornings Like This: Found Poems , featuring poetry derived from “an eclectic range of books.” [xi]

A Brief Overview of Learning Theory, Cognitive Development, and Found Poetry

Most educators, whether teachers or librarians, find it valuable to link any activity, especially those they deem as “fun” activities, to learning theory, educational objectives, and best practices. The writing of found poems can be linked to multiple learning theories to support their use in classrooms and library programming. Since most educators are familiar with these theories, only a brief description of them and their relationship to found poetry will be given.

Louise Rosenblatt and Transactional Reading Relationships

In her essay “The Acid Test for Literature Teaching,” Louise Rosenblatt points out that “for the readers, the literary work is a particular and personal event” and that “students must be helped to have personally satisfying and personally meaningful transactions with literature.” [xii] Even more so: “Sensitivity to the different aspects of a literary work is highly desirable, of course, but when the eye of the reader is focused on the work as personally perceived, he will not march impartially through a set of items or apply again and again a single type of analysis. He will be aglow with a particular response. He will need to register this response, to get the particular quality of it. And he will need to reflect on it. For it will be the result of the way the work fits into his own past experience of books and life.” [xiii] And this is what found poetry can be about—allowing a student to interact with a text on a personal level and to make sense of the text.

Reader Response Theory

Both of the above quotes by Rosenblatt also relate to Reader Response theory, and Rosenblatt is credited with “the paradigm shift in the teaching of literature away from viewing the text as authority to a view that focuses on the readers’ relationship to the text.” [xiv] Reader Response theory is closely related to Constructivist learning theory, and writing a found poem is another way of responding to literature that emphasizes the reader’s relationship to the text.

Constructivism

Constructivist theory defines learning as an “active, constructive process” in which “people actively construct or create their own subjective representation of objective reality.” [xv] Since new information is linked to prior knowledge, mental representations are subjective. Important contributors to constructivism include Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, John Dewey, and Jerome Bruner. Constructivism is closely related to Instructional Design, Problem-Based Learning, Cognitive Apprenticeship or Scaffolding, and Carol Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process and Guided Inquiry. Writing found poetry helps students construct meaning from curriculum by using class lectures, textbooks, research, novels, and primary sources to present information in new and meaningful ways.

Experiential Learning

While David Kolb is generally accredited with popularizing it, Experiential Learning has its beginnings with John Dewey and Carl Rogers. Often called “learning through experience” and “learning by doing,” a key element of this theory is that learning takes place when the student is involved in the process. By involving students in direct experiences related to “real world problems,” the librarian or teacher becomes a facilitator in the learning process. [xvi] These learning experiences should include reflection, analysis, and synthesis, all of which can be accomplish by writing found poems.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

While not actually a theory, most compilations of educational theory include Bloom’s taxonomy of learning. In 1956 Bloom led a group of educational psychologists in the development of a classification of levels of intellectual behavior important in learning. This taxonomy included, starting at the most basic level: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. In the 1990s a new group of cognitive psychologists updated this theory for the twenty-first century and changed the taxonomy from nouns to verbs. The new taxonomy includes remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. [xvii] Using found poetry in the classroom or as a creative activity uses the highest levels of the taxonomy, especially the highest level: creating.

Higher Order Thinking Skills

While based on the work of most educational psychologists, the concept of higher order thinking skills is most often linked to Bloom and his taxonomy. Using found poetry as an instructional strategy not only helps with these higher-order thinking skills but also with the lower-level skills of remembering—which includes defining, duplicating, listing, recalling, repeating, reproducing, and stating—and of understanding, which includes classifying, describing, discussing, explaining, identifying, reporting, selecting, translating, and paraphrasing. Found poems can also be used to apply information, the third stop on the pyramid.

Beyond Educational Theory

Going beyond educational theory and practice, generalizations can be made about the effectiveness of using found poetry as a classroom tool:

Writing found poetry encourages critical thinking and creativity. Since the poet must weigh words and evaluate their meaning in context and form, found poetry requires the writer to synthesize the meaning of the primary source in such a way that word and phrase placement provides emphasis and clarification. [xviii]
Found poetry increases connections to content. The expository writing found in most textbooks requires readers to be able to identify key terms and academic vocabulary. The clarifying nature of found poetry lends itself well to the development of these skills. [xix] It also reinforces the skills of interpretation and comprehension as choices must be made about words and phrases from the original source.
Found poetry can lead to lasting connections with the subject matter. When students “make words their own,” they also create a connection to the text. [xx] This text no longer becomes something just to memorize for a test.
Found poetry expands and deepens student engagement with language as it is done in collaboration with text.
Found poetry can lead to improved comprehension and increased academic language acquisition. Because students who construct found poems are encouraged to examine and reflect on the language of the author, the borrowing of text leads to a form of scaffolding. Writing about a specific subject matter positively affects learning and serves as a “gateway” to comprehension. [xxi]
Writing found poetry in content classrooms helps students become more attentive to the language found in text materials and the process of writing a found poem allows the student to access information in ways that make the information uniquely their own. [xxii]

Cognitive development closely relates to learning theory in that developmentally humans are able to master certain tasks and understandings at different stages usually related to their age. This idea closely relates to constructivism in that activities need to be appropriate for the age and maturity of the students. Vygotsky’s “zone of proximal development” is often used as a standard for understanding the concept of cognitive development. According to Vygotsky, the zone of proximal development “is the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers.” [xxiii] Using found poems as a basis for problem solving and developing skills uniquely supports cognitive development.

Other psychologists such as Piaget and Bruner have their own theories of the stages of cognitive development, but most focus on the concept that students need to be physically, mentally, and emotionally ready to accomplish certain goals and tasks successfully; however, this is not accomplished independently but with the help of peers, parents, and teachers.

A Summary of Found Poetry and Learning

A student needs to: Transact Construct Experience and Bloom

With the help of a “teacher” who Designs instruction Institutes problem based learning Scaffolds and guides inquiry and the research process

Found poetry can help create learning.

How to Write a Found Poem

By thinking of found poems as literary collages, writing becomes simple. Unlike many other poetic forms, there are no rules as to rhyme, rhythm, or structure. Basically, the writer uses someone else’s words to create a new structure, in this case a poem.

The writer gathers interesting, appealing, or important words from another source, and the list of sources never ends. Anything that has words or that can be named with words is fair game for a found poem. When working with a classroom or other group of children or young adults, start with familiar items—the arrangements of books on a library shelf, the playlist on their electronic device, the contents of their purses or backpacks, the student handbook, their horoscope—and have them arrange this into a poem. Once you are comfortable with the concept, you can use it as a way to connect students with curriculum. A good description of introducing found poems as part of a classroom lesson can be found at http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/printouts/foundpoem.pdf ; the sponsor of the web page, the NCTE—National Council of Teachers of English—and author Patricia Schulze have made it available for download and use. [xxiv]

Copyright Issues

Copyright can cause issues if found poems are published. For the most part, this can be avoided by citing the source at the beginning or the end of the poem. The type of found poem being published also impacts copyright. If the poem takes phrases or sentences from a variety of sources, no real issue exists. A poem that uses one single copyrighted text proves to be a different issue as questions of fair use come into play. Legally, though, no law exists that deals with found poems and copyright. Authors often see this as an issue of plagiarism, but poets see it more as a form of creativity. If publishing student poems either online or in print, the recommendation stands: cite the source from which the poem originated. For more information, see “Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Poetry” [xxv] developed jointly by the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property at Washington College of Law, American University, the Center for Media and Social Impact at American University, the Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute, and the Poetry Foundation. [xxvi]

Found Poetry—A List of What I Read and What I Used in Writing This Paper

Words mostly Book titles Favorite quotes Advertisements Conversations—perhaps those overheard Text messages Research Websites Interviews A dissertation and a thesis Wikipedia Database articles And whatever words made me think.

Suggestions for the Use of Found Poems in the Classroom or Library

The list of possibilities for using found poetry is extensive; an Internet search or a database search will show many ways to integrate it into a classroom or learning situation. While a number of these uses are presented below, the suggestions are not exhaustive and should only serve as ideas to get started with the process.

General Uses

The NCTE website gives a complete lesson plan developed by Carolyn Wilhelm with reproducibles for use with younger students kindergarten thru third grade (ages 5–9) that could be easily adapted for older students. [xxvii] This activity works equally well in the classroom or as a library activity. In public libraries, this could be incorporated into Summer Reading programming with kids writing found poetry from a book they have read.

Jennifer Isgitt of Fort Worth, Texas, has a blog, The Empathetic Teacher , for high school educators. Her structured approach to writing found poems provides instructions for introducing found poetry into a classroom. In her example, she uses a magazine article to as a starting place. [xxviii] Again, this approach to writing found poems would work well beyond any classroom and could be used to show children and young adults how to find keywords and important information from primary and secondary sources and how to use found poetry as a note-taking tool. Public librarians could use this with their programming for the home-schooling population.

Social Studies and History

The U.S. Library of Congress resource kit on using primary sources has one section devoted to found poetry. It states:

Retelling history from one’s own perspective can help them (students) make the learning their own. While there are many ways that students can “retell” history, one effective strategy is the writing of “found” poetry. Using rich primary sources texts, students select words that allow them to retell the historical content in poetic form. [xxix]

Public libraries with historical document sections are a perfect venue for using found poetry to “retell” history. Another activity could involve interviewing people about a historical event or period and presenting the interviews as found poetry. This could develop into a multi-generation programming activity in almost any type of library (Grandparents’ Day is the first holiday that comes to mind).

In an article in the Geography Teacher , Ellen Foster outlines a lesson using a geography connection with high school students. The lesson involves reading an article and dividing students into groups to write found poems using the article. [xxx] In a library setting, as either a library lesson or a programming activity, atlases, state or country books, cookbooks, or newspapers from different cities or parts of the country could be substituted.

English and Language Arts (Adaptable to Any Language, of Course)

Barbara Groome and Jo Peterson Gibbs provide a lesson plan for using picture books for writing found poetry that includes educational objectives. While they structure this as a group project, it could easily be adapted for individual writing. It is also appropriate for a library setting and would be a good way to introduce found poetry or to just have fun with picture books and poetry. For public libraries, this would be an inexpensive but fun parent-and-child activity for library programming during Poetry Month in April. [xxxi]

An older article by Don Phillips in the English Journal , “Let Found Poetry Help Your Students Study Literature,” illustrates several ways that he used found poetry as part of several different lessons and shows the versatility of the format. [xxxii] He used found poems as both a culminating activity and as a review of learning. His ideas are easily adaptable as a book club activity as a way to discuss a book or as a culminating activity after the book has been read and discussed. It can also be used as a note-taking tool to highlight “beautiful language” or important events.

Another article from 1989 in the English Journal , “Let Found Poetry Help Your Student Find Poetry” by Nancy Gorrell, explains how she used found poetry to introduce her poetry unit and divided the process into three lessons. [xxxiii] While the unit as introduced in this article may not be as applicable to a library setting, it can be shared with teachers, used as a resource, and it would also work with homeschooler programming.

Science and Math

Fine Lines , a blog by Christie—no last name given—discusses a found poetry project that she did with discarded science textbooks. The science poems in “Found Poetry Becomes Art” are fascinating, and this activity could work with any print source . [xxxiv] This would be a good activity to use with weeded math, science, and computer books that would allow students to cut out the words they want to use.

There is also beginning to be some interest in combining poetry and science in STEM and STEAM programming. One school district that has done this successfully gives some good ideas as to how this can be accomplished in “Combining Robotics with Poetry?: Art and Engineering Can Co-Exist.” [xxxv] With so many libraries, both school and public, doing STEM and STEAM programming, this short article gives some rationale for combining poetry with science as well as some basic ideas that could easily be expanded to many topics.

A Few Concluding Words

Almost anything can be used to create a found poem —text from newspapers, magazines, or books; shelves —library, store, pantry; products in your grocery bag; items you find around the house —signs and billboards as you are travelling; —graffiti; —brand names —and there is no limit as to where poems can be found.

Found poems can be used in a variety of ways to enhance learning. And sometimes they can be used for simply the joy of writing.

1 “Found Poetry,” Wikipedia , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Found_poetry (accessed March 24, 2015).

[ii] “Found Poetry,” Poets.org, https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/poetic-form-found-poem (accessed October 20, 2015).

3 Monica Prendergast, “Found Poetry as Literature Review: Research Poems on Audience and Performance,” Qualitative Inquiry 12 (February 2006): 369–89.

[iv] Ibid., 370.

[v] Ibid., 371, quoting from Melissa Cahnmann, “The Craft, Practice, and Possibility in Poetry in Educational Research,” Educational Research 32 (3): 29.

[vi] Manina Jones, “Redeeming Prose: Colombo’s Found Poetry,” Canadian Poetry Journal 25 (1989), http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadianpoetry/cpjrn/vol25/jones.htm (accessed August 24, 2014), quoting from Franz K. Stanzel, “Texts Recycle: ‘Found Poems’ Found in Canada,” in Gaining Ground: European Critics on Canadian Literature , ed. Robert Kroetsch and Reingard M. Nischik (Edmonton: NeWest Press, 1985), 91.

[vii] Jones, “Redeeming Prose.”

[viii] From http://arthistory.about.com/cs/arthistory10one/a/dada.htm (accessed October 23, 2015).

[ix] Lisa Patrick, “Found Poetry: A Tool for Supporting Novice Poets and Fostering Transactional Relationships between Prospective Teachers and Young Adult Literature” (PhD diss., Columbus, Ohio State University, 2013), 32, quoting Sonja K. Foss, Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice (Long Grove, IL: Waveland, 2009).

[x] “Poetic form: Found poems,” Poets.org, http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/poetic-form-found-poem (accessed March 24, 2015).

[xi] Patrick, “Found Poetry,” 321.

[xii] Louise Rosenblatt, “The Acid Test for Literature Teaching,” English Journal 21, no. 4 (1956): 69.

[xiii] Ibid., 63.

[xiv] Gladys Westbrook Church, “The Significance of Louise Rosenblatt on the Field of Teaching Literature,” Inquiry 1 (Spring 1997): 7.

[xv] “Constructivism,” Learning-Theories.Com, http://www.learning.theories.com/constructivism.html (accessed August 22, 2014).

[xvi] “Experiential Learning,” Northern Illinois University, Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center, http://www.niu.edu/facdev/resources/guide/strategies/experiential_learning.pdf (accessed August 22, 2014).

[xvii] Richard C. Overbaugh and Lynn Schultz, “Bloom’s Taxonomy,” http://ww2.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm (accessed August 22, 2014).

[xviii] Julia Dangerfield Lewis, “Finders Keepers: Using Found Poetry to Promote Academic Literacy and a Deeper Understanding across the Curriculum: A Multi-Grade Curriculum” (MA thesis, Sacramento, California State University, 2012), 19.

[xix] Ibid., 20.

[xx] Ibid., 23.

[xxi] Ibid., 31.

[xxii] Ibid., 33.

[xxiii] Lev Vygotsky, Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978), 86.

[xxiv] Patricia Schulze, “Lesson Plan: Found Poems/Parallel Poems,” NCTE, http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/found-poems-parallel-poems-33.html (accessed June 28, 2015).

[xxv] “Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Poetry,” http://www.cmsimpact.org/fair-use/best-practices/code-best-practices-fair-use-poetry (accessed October 24, 2015).

[xxvi] Patricia Aufderheide, Katherine Coles, Peter Jaszi, and Jennifer Urban, Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Poetry , 2009, http://www.cmsimpact.org/sites/default/files/documents/pages/fairusepoetrybooklet_singlepg_3.pdf (accessed March 22, 2015).

[xxvii] Carolyn Wilhelm, “Lesson Plan: A Bear of a Poem: Composing and Performing Found Poetry,” http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/bear-poem-composing-performing-835.html (accessed June 28, 2015).

[xxviii] Jennifer Isgitt, “Found and Headline Poems,” https://secure.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Books/Sample/18488chap1.pdf (accessed June 28, 2015).

[xxix] “Found Poetry,” Library of Congress: Teaching with Primary Sources, http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/poetry/pdf/teacher_guide.pdf (accessed March 22, 2015).

[xxx] Ellen Foster, “Finding Geography Using Found Poetry,” Geography Teacher 9 (January 2012): 26–29.

[xxxi] Barbara Groome and Jo Peterson Gibbs, “Creating Found Poetry from Picture Books,” Educational Oasis, http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/LP/LA/creating_found_poetry.htm . An extension of this activity can be found at http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/3675 (accessed March 25, 2015).

[xxxii] Don Phillips, “Let Found Poetry Help Your Students Study Literature,” English Journal 78 (May 1989): 68–70.

[xxxiii] Nancy Gorrell, “Let Found Poetry Help Your Students Find Poetry,” English Journal 78 (February 1989): 30–34.

[xxxiv] Christie, “Found Poetry Becomes Art,” Fine Lines , http://kids-finelines.blogspot.com/2013/10/found-poetry-becomes-art.html (accessed March 24, 2014).

[xxxv] Mindshift, “Combining Robotics with Poetry?: Art and Engineering Can Co-Exist,” http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/04/04/combining-robotics-with-poetry-art-and-engineering-can-co-exist/ (accessed June 28, 2015).

Found Poems/Parallel Poems

Resources & Preparation
Instructional Plan
Related Resources

Students compose found and parallel poems based on descriptive literary passages they have read. Students first select a passage and then pick out descriptive words, phrases and lines. They then arrange and format the excerpts to compose their own poems. Students create found poems (poems that are composed from words and phrases found in another text) as well as parallel poems (original poems that use the same line structures as another poem, but focus on a completely different topic.) This process of recasting the text they are reading in a different genre helps students become more insightful readers and develop creativity in thinking and writing. Since students are primarily identifying nouns and verbs for use in their poems, the lesson also provides a relevant opportunity for a grammar review of these two parts of speech.

Featured Resources

Word Mover : This student interactive allows students to drag and drop words from a passage from famous works or a word bank to create a found poem.

From Theory to Practice

One of the strongest ways to teach students about how poets and poetry works is to encourage them to write their own poetry. As Dunning and Stafford explain, the advantage of found poems is that "you don't start from scratch. All you have to do is find some good language and ‘improve' it" (3). These two teachers note that "poems hide in things you and others say and write. They lie buried in places where language isn't so self-conscious as ‘real poetry' often is. [Writing found poems] is about keeping your ears and eyes alert to the possibilities in ordinary language" (3).

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
9. Students develop an understanding of and respect for diversity in language use, patterns, and dialects across cultures, ethnic groups, geographic regions, and social roles.
11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Materials and Technology

Prose passage chosen by student or teacher
Model of Found and Parallel Poem
Found Poem Instructions
Love Found Poems Rubric
Student Assessment Sheet for Found Poems
Sample Found Poem

Preparation

Choose a text for students to use as the source of their prose passages. You might use a book that the entire class has read recently, choose books that students have read in literature circles, or have students use books that they have read independently.
Make copies or an overhead transparency of the Found Poem Instructions , Model of Found and Parallel Poem , Student Assessment Sheet for Found Poems , and Love Found Poems Rubric .
Test the Word Mover on your computers to familiarize yourself with the tool and ensure that you have the Flash plug-in installed. You can download the plug-in from the technical support page.

Student Objectives

Students will:

select a particularly descriptive passage in a piece of prose fiction.
identify significant words, phrases and sentences in the passage.
arrange the excerpts into a found poem.
compose a parallel poem, using the same structure as the found poem.

Session One

Ask students to choose a prose passage from a text they have read. Have them focus on identifying a page or two that includes a lot of strong description or dialogue.
Explain that the class is going to use the passages to compose original poems, called found poems and parallel poems.
Pass out or display the Model of Found and Parallel Poem .
Read through the passage and the two poems, pausing to explain the poetic form of each of the poems. You can provide more examples found in the links in the Resources section.
Define found poems for the class as poems that are composed from words and phrases found in another text.
Define parallel poems as original poems that use the same line structures as another poem, but focus on a completely different topic. Some words from the original poem are retained, but some words are replaced with new words.
Ensure that students understand how the examples on the model sheet fit the two poetic formats.
Pass out copies of the Love Found Poems Rubric , and have students analyze the Sample Found Poem using the criteria on the rubric.
Step students through the process of composing original found poems, using the Found Poem Instructions .
Introduce the Word Mover and allow time for students to practice rearranging the words into found poems.
For homework, ask students to return to the prose passage that they have chosen and use the Found Poem Instructions to write their own found poems for homework. Explain that students will compose parallel poems during the next session so they should have a completed found poem ready at the beginning of the next class.
Ask students to be sure that they bring two copies of their found poem to the next session—one to share with peers, and one to use as they compose their parallel poems.

Session Two

Arrange students in small groups and have them share their found poems with one another.
Encourage students to compare the poems to the criteria on the Love Found Poems Rubric .
As groups work, circulate among students, providing feedback and support as appropriate.
When students have completed sharing their poems, reconvene the class.
Return to the Model of Found and Parallel Poem and read through the two poems. Add reminders of the definition of the parallel poem form.
Have students put one copy of their found poems away and keep out the one that they will use as they work on their parallel poems.
Ask students to read through the found poem and identify words and phrases that provide specific information. Have students underline these content words.
Since students will primarily be looking for nouns and verbs, provide a grammar refresher on the two parts of speech if appropriate.
Once they have identified the content words, ask students to copy the words and phrases that are NOT underlined on to a new sheet of paper. In place of the content words, have students draw blanks, creating a template for their parallel poem in a fill-in-the-blank format.
If resources allow, you might make additional copies of these templates for students to use. If they are working on a computer, have them print more than one copy.
Have students choose a different topic and create a parallel poem by filling in the blanks on their templates. Allow more than one try so that students can play with words until they get poems that they like.
For homework, ask students to prepare polished copies of both of their poems for peer review. If possible, you may ask students to provide a photocopy of the passage from the original prose text for your comparison.

Session Three

Review the Love Found Poems Rubric and discuss any questions students have about the expectations for the activity.
Pass out copies of the Student Assessment Sheet for Found Poems .
Discuss possible feedback that would be appropriate on the Assessment Sheet, pointing out the connection between the categories on the rubric .
Arrange students in small groups, and ask them to read their poems aloud to each other one-by-one. Alternately students can work in pairs.
Ask group members to use the Student Assessment Sheet to provide feedback on the effectiveness of one another's poems and then to share the assessments.
As students work, circulate among class members, providing feedback and support as appropriate.
Once everyone has finished, gather the class and generally discuss the feedback that students have received and any questions that they have about their poems.
If desired, you might invite volunteers to share drafts with the whole class.
In the remaining time, ask students to revise their poems, taking into account the feedback they received.
Ask students to submit their work at the end of the session or at the beginning of the next class.
Try the ReadWriteThink lesson Alliteration in Headline Poems for another way to create found poems.
For additional discussion of found poems, tap the student examples in " Found and Headline Poems " from Getting the Knack: 20 Poetry Writing Exercises by Stephen Dunning and William Stafford.
Use this lesson as a book report alternative. Ask students to choose descriptive passages from two or three key moments in the text and then compose found and parallel poems from those passages. Add a reflective piece where students explain why they chose the passages they did.

Student Assessment / Reflections

Evaluate students’ found poems using the Love Found Poems Rubric . In your comments, draw connections to the discussion of the poem formats and the practice poems that students have written. If desired, compare your comments to those students receive on the Student Assessment Sheet for Found Poems .
Calendar Activities
Professional Library
Student Interactives

Word Mover allows children and teens to create "found poetry" by choosing from word banks and existing famous works; additionally, users can add new words to create a piece of poetry by moving/manipulating the text.

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Our Ninth Annual Found Poem Student Contest

By Katherine Schulten

March 28, 2018

Update, Sept. 12: You can find the dates of our 2019 Found Poem Student Contest by visiting our 2018-19 Contest Calendar and scrolling down.

Update, June 11: Winners have been announced!

Every April since 2010 we’ve celebrated the joys of spring and of National Poetry Month with our Found Poem Contest.

Participating is easy: Just “find” some poetry in a Times article — any Times article, published at any point in our 167-year history.

To help, we also have a companion lesson plan by two teachers who use this contest to “reinforce close reading, experimentation, peer review, self-review and revision” — skills that are valuable across the curriclum. And, if that isn’t enough, we’ve also published an additional 22 ways to teach poetry with The New York Times .

Everything you need to know about the contest is below, with links and tips galore. But if you have any questions, please post them in the comments, and we will answer you there, or write to us at [email protected].

FAQ: Found Poem Challenge Guidelines

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Found Poem Generator: AI-Powered Found Poem

Help us improve. How was the output?

Crafting a found poem can feel like a treasure hunt through language, piecing together phrases and words from existing texts to create something new and expressive. Whether you’re a seasoned poet or a curious newcomer, the process requires a keen eye for striking imagery and resonant phrases. Integrating an AI-powered found poem generator into your creative workflow can streamline your exploration. These tools sift through vast literary expanses, presenting you with a curated array of elements to assemble your masterpiece. As you embark on this poetic journey, let’s dive into how you can harness technology to enhance your artistic expression.

Table of Contents

What is a Found Poem?

A found poem is a type of poetry created by rearranging words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other sources, such as books, letters, speeches, advertisements, or even everyday documents, to form a new poem. The poet may alter the original text by changing the order of words, reformatting lines, adding or omitting words, or playing with punctuation to create a distinct piece of poetry. This process allows the poet to imbue the existing text with new meanings and emotions.

The concept of a found poem lies in its ability to repurpose language and give it new life and artistic expression. It highlights the poetic potential in non-poetic contexts, showcasing how poetic beauty and insights can emerge from unexpected sources. Found poetry challenges our perceptions of what poetry can be and engages with the original text in a transformative way, often reflecting on themes or raising questions about the text and its context.

Elements of a Found Poem

When crafting a found poem, your choice of source material sets the stage, so pick something that truly speaks to you. Themes and imagery are your tools to evoke emotions and paint pictures in the reader’s mind. Lastly, please don’t underestimate the power of structure and form; they’re the backbone that holds your poem together, guiding its rhythm and flow.

Source Material Selection

Selecting the perfect source material is foundational to creating a compelling poem. Picture yourself both as a poet and a curator, someone tasked with excavating and artfully arranging words. The source material you choose acts as the bedrock for your creation, influencing the final poem’s feel and flow. Here are some tips to guide you in choosing sources that enrich your poetic endeavour:

Prioritize Rich in Language and Expression Texts : Opt for materials overflowing with descriptive words, phrases, and impactful quotations. Poetry, literary fiction, famous speeches, and personal letters can be goldmines of expressive language.

Seek Emotional Depth and Vivid Imagery : Materials that evoke strong emotions and paint clear pictures are particularly potent. They provide the raw materials from which you can craft scenes and sentiments in your poem.

Diversify Your Sources : Incorporating texts from different genres, styles, and periods can enhance the linguistic texture of your poem. Mixing sources, like blending lyrics from a song with lines from a classic novel, can add unexpected twists and turns.

Extract Key Elements Aligned with Your Theme : Focus on pulling out phrases and images that closely align with the overarching theme you wish to explore. This thematic consistency will give your found poem its coherence and impact.

By following these guidelines, you equip yourself with a rich palette of words and phrases from which you can draw to construct your found poem. This initial selection process is crucial as it sets the tone and direction of your creative journey.

Themes and Imagery

Exploring themes and imagery in your found poem enriches the reader’s experience and offers a fresh perspective on the original text. As you meticulously sift through your chosen material, employing various found poetry techniques, distinct themes such as love, loss, or reflections on social issues begin to surface. Your role in this creative process is similar to that of a discerning editor or a poem generator, handpicking phrases and sentences that resonate on a thematic level and evoke solid sensory experiences.

Here’s a guide to enhance your found poem through the use of powerful imagery and themes:

Identify Emerging Themes : As you review your source material, take note of recurring motifs or themes that strike a chord. These could range from personal transformation to broader societal commentary, providing a focal point for your poem.

Use Vivid Imagery : Select words and phrases that paint vivid pictures or evoke intense emotions. The goal is to transform plain text into a rich tapestry of images and sensations that pull readers into your narrative.

Create Connections : Link disparate pieces of text to construct a cohesive and compelling narrative. This might involve juxtaposing text from different sources or recontextualizing words to deepen the theme’s impact.

Craft a New Perspective : By choosing specific excerpts and arranging them in a novel way, you can offer readers a unique interpretation of the original text. This approach highlights your creativity and invites readers to see familiar words and ideas through a new lens.

By focusing intently on these elements, you craft a poem that transcends its source material, inviting readers into a uniquely crafted world. This transformation of text into a profound exploration of metaphor and symbol allows your found poem to stand out as an insightful and evocative piece of art.

The Role of Structure and Form

Understanding the role of structure and form is essential in crafting your found poem, as it guides the selection and arrangement of words to effectively convey your intended message. This process not only shapes the poem’s rhythm and flow but also its overall impact on the reader.

Poetry Structure : The structure of your found poem acts as its backbone, organizing words and phrases in a way that enhances their meaning and effect. Whether you choose a traditional form like a sonnet or a more free-form approach, the arrangement should serve the tone and content of the poem. Consider how line breaks, stanza divisions, and punctuation can influence the pace and pause, creating emphasis and subtlety in the text.

Copyright in Poetry : It’s crucial to navigate the legal and ethical aspects of using existing texts. Always opt for sources that are in the public domain or for which you have obtained explicit permission. This ensures that your creative process remains respectful and lawful, avoiding potential copyright infringement issues.

Found Poem Generator/Text Generator for Poetry : Utilizing tools like a found poem generator can spark creativity, especially when you feel stuck. These tools offer new ways of seeing and arranging text, helping you break free from conventional thinking and explore innovative structures and patterns.

Visual Elements : Incorporating visual elements into your found poem can greatly enhance its appeal and interpretative depth. Consider how the physical layout of the poem on the page can mirror its thematic elements or add a layer of meaning. Experiment with font sizes, spacing, and alignment to make the poem not just a piece of writing but a visual experience as well.

Manual Techniques of Writing a Found Poem

To kick off your journey into writing a found poem, you’ll first need to pick your source material carefully, ensuring it speaks to you on a personal level. Once you’ve got that, you’ll sift through to extract potent phrases and words that capture your imagination or the essence you want to convey. The following steps involve creatively arranging these selections and refining your work, transforming the borrowed text into a unique poem, both cohesive and resonant.

Selecting Your Source Material

When selecting your source material for a found poem, you need to consider the types of texts that best suit your creative vision. Newspapers, magazines, and book pages often offer a rich tapestry of words and phrases. Aim for texts that spark your interest or stir emotions, as these will fuel your creativity and help shape your poem.

Types of Texts Suitable for Found Poetry

How do you choose the right type of text for your found poem? Consider source materials that resonate with your creative vision and have an emotional impact.

Newspapers and magazines : Rich in current events and diverse vocabulary.
Books and speeches : Offer depth and a variety of phrases.
Online articles : Provide contemporary language and themes.
Examples of famous found poems : Inspire with successful transformations.

Extracting Potent Phrases and Words

Begin your found poem by sifting through a chosen text, looking for words or phrases that leap out with solid emotions or distinctive meanings. This step is crucial in the manual techniques of writing a found poem. It involves extracting potent phrases and words from existing texts, an essential aspect of creative writing exercises aimed at producing works with significant emotional impact. Focus on selecting language that profoundly resonates, capturing what moves you. Then, play around with rearranging these snippets. This isn’t just about finding the right words; it’s about feeling their weight and seeing how they fit together to express something new yet profoundly connected to the source.

Crafting a Cohesive Theme

Once you’ve chosen your source material, developing a cohesive theme for your found poem is crucial. You’ll need to sift through the text, picking out words or phrases that align with your intended message or emotion. By experimenting with arrangement and structure, you can craft a poem that resonates with readers and maintains a clear, thematic focus.

Techniques for Theme Development

The first step in crafting a cohesive found poem is selecting keywords and phrases from your source text that resonate with your intended theme.

Use a found poem generator for inspirational ideas.
Understand how to write a found poem to enhance creativity.
Consider publishing found poems to share your work.
Appreciate the benefits of writing found poems for personal growth and expression.

Arranging Your Selected Text

Once you’ve selected and cut out your phrases, it’s time to play with their arrangement. Think about how the placement of words can change the poem’s tone and rhythm. Spacing and line breaks are your best tools for crafting your found poem’s visual and emotional impact.

Tips for Effective Arrangement

Experimenting with different arrangements of your selected text can dramatically enhance the impact and meaning of your chosen poem. Here’s how to create found poems that resonate:

Use a found poem generator for inspiration, but trust your intuition.
Focus on the benefits of writing found poems : self-expression and creativity.
Arrange words to build rhythm and emotion.
Revise until your arrangement conveys the desired message.

Refining and Editing

Once you’ve arranged your selected text into a rough draft of your found poem, it’s time to polish it for impact. You must scrutinise each word and phrase, ensuring they contribute to the poem’s theme and emotional resonance. This stage is about refining your work to enhance clarity, rhythm, and engagement, turning your draft into a polished piece of poetry.

Polishing Your Poem for Impact

To polish your found poem for maximum impact, start by revising and editing the selected words and phrases, focusing on enhancing the poem’s message and emotional resonance.

Rearrange words to improve flow and coherence.
Adjust line breaks for visual appeal and readability.
Cut unnecessary words to sharpen focus.
Add punctuation to clarify meaning and rhythm.

Using a Found Poem Generator

If you’re curious about a hassle-free way to start with found poetry, a found poem generator might be what you need. This tool can quickly generate poems based on your input, saving time and sparking creativity. We’ll explore what a found poem generator is, its benefits, and how to use one effectively in your writing process.

What is a Found Poem Generator?

A found poem generator is a digital tool designed to craft poetry from existing text using artificial intelligence. This tool simplifies the art of found poetry, making it accessible to experienced poets and novices alike. It encourages creative expression through innovative technology. Here’s how it typically functions:

Collecting User Inputs: The first step involves the user providing the necessary inputs to guide the poem’s creation. These inputs generally include the following:

Source Text : The original text from which the poem will be crafted. This could be excerpts from books, articles, speeches, or other written material.
Desired Emotion : The user specifies the emotion the poem should convey, such as joy, sadness, inspiration, or anger. This helps the AI understand the tone to aim for in the poem.
Keywords : These are specific words or phrases the user wants included in the poem. They can ensure the poem aligns with a particular theme or subject matter.

AI Analysis: Once the inputs are provided, the AI begins its analysis. This stage includes:

Text Processing : The AI examines the source text to identify key phrases and structures that match the desired emotion and include the specified keywords.
Emotion Recognition : The AI uses natural language processing techniques to detect and harness emotional cues from the source text. This helps maintain the emotional integrity of the original material in the new poetic form.
Keyword Integration : The AI ensures that the user’s keywords are incorporated effectively into the poem, enhancing relevance and adherence to the requested themes.

Poem Generation: In the final stage, the AI constructs the poem. This process involves:

Recomposition : The selected words and phrases are artistically rearranged. The AI may employ various poetic devices such as alliteration, assonance, or repetition to enhance the lyrical quality of the poem.
Layout Design : Attention is also given to the visual layout, which includes line breaks, stanza arrangement, and overall formatting, all crucial for the poem’s readability and aesthetic appeal.
Final Touches : The AI adjusts punctuation and capitalization to deliver a polished piece, ensuring the flow and rhythm are engaging for the reader.

Benefits of Using a Found Poem Generator

Using a found poem generator offers a range of benefits that can enhance both the learning and creative processes involved in poetry writing. This tool can be particularly useful for educators, writers, and poetry enthusiasts interested in exploring the possibilities of reinterpreting existing texts into new poetic forms. Integrating a found poem generator into your poetic or educational practices allows you to enjoy a more dynamic and interactive approach to poetry. This tool enhances creative expression and deepens literary engagement, making it a valuable asset for anyone interested in the art of poetry. Here are some of the key benefits of using a found poem generator:

1. Stimulates Creativity

New Perspectives : The generator can help users see familiar texts in new ways, encouraging them to find hidden poetic meanings and emotional undertones that they might not have noticed before.
Creative Reinterpretation : It provides an opportunity to break down and rebuild texts, stimulating creativity and offering fresh insights into the original material.

2. Educational Tool

Literary Analysis : For educators, a found poem generator is a fantastic tool to teach literary analysis and poetic techniques. It helps students identify significant themes and expressions within a text and encourages them to think critically about how words convey meaning.
Understanding Poetic Structure : Students can learn about poetic structure and elements as they see how the generator organizes the text into a coherent poem.

3. Facilitates Accessibility

Ease of Use : The generator simplifies creating poetry, making it accessible to people of all ages and educational backgrounds. This can be particularly encouraging for those who may feel intimidated by traditional poetry writing.
Encourages Participation : By lowering barriers to entry, the tool can encourage more people to engage with poetry, expanding the community of poetry creators and appreciators.

4. Enhances Engagement with Text

Deepens Engagement : Using a found poem generator encourages a deeper engagement with the source text. Users must sift through the text to select words and phrases, deepening their understanding and appreciation of the original material.
Promotes Active Learning : This active involvement in the creative process can be more engaging and rewarding than passive study or literary consumption.

5. Saves Time and Effort

Efficiency : The generator can quickly produce a draft of a poem, saving time and effort that might otherwise be spent on more manual creative processes. This allows users to focus more on refining and interpreting the poem rather than assembling its initial form.
Multiple Iterations : Users can quickly produce multiple versions of a poem from the exact text, allowing them to explore various interpretations and expressions without starting from scratch each time.

6. Provides Inspiration

Idea Generation : For writers experiencing creative blocks, a found poem generator can provide a starting point that sparks new ideas and helps overcome barriers to creativity.
Experimentation : Writers can experiment with different source texts and settings, exploring how changes affect the style and substance of the poems they generate.

Steps to Use a Found Poem Generator

Using a found poem generator effectively involves inputting specific details to guide the AI in creating a poem from existing text. This process allows for creative reinterpretation and new expressions through the selective reorganization of words and phrases. Following these steps, you can use a found poem generator to create meaningful and artistically reimagined pieces from existing texts. This tool is especially valuable for exploring new creative possibilities, teaching literary concepts, or simply enjoying the process of transforming familiar texts into fresh poetic expressions. Here’s how to utilise a found poem generator to its fullest potential:

Step 1: Enter the Source Text

Selecting the Text : Choose a piece of text that you want to transform into a poem. This could be a page from a book, a newspaper article, song lyrics, or other written material. Your source text’s quality and thematic richness can significantly influence the poem’s depth and interest.
Input the Text : Enter the full text into the generator. This text will serve as the raw material for your poem.

Step 2: What Emotion Should Your Poem Convey?

Determine the Emotion : Decide on the emotion you want your poem to express. This could include sadness, joy, nostalgia, anger, peace, or other emotions. The chosen emotion will guide the AI in selecting and arranging the phrases that best convey this mood.
Input the Emotion : Input this emotion into the generator. This ensures that the AI prioritizes text snippets that align with the desired emotional tone.

Step 3: Enter Specific Keywords Related to Your Poem

Choose Keywords : Select keywords that are central to the theme or message you wish to explore in your poem. These keywords help focus the AI on relevant text segments that should be emphasized or repeatedly included.
Input Keywords : Enter these keywords into the generator. This step helps refine the search within the source text to find phrases that best fit your thematic and emotional framework.

Step 4: Click on Generate

Generating the Poem : With all the necessary inputs, click the ‘generate’ button. The AI will analyze the entered text, emotion, and keywords, extracting and reassembling text fragments to form your found poem.
Review and Edit : After generating the poem, review it to ensure it meets your expectations and resonates with the intended emotion and theme. You might find that additional tweaking or reordering is necessary to perfect the poem.

Legal and Ethical Considerations in Found Poetry

When crafting a found poem, it’s crucial to understand copyright rules and respect the sources. You’ll need to determine if your use of the text falls under fair use or if you should seek permission. Always credit the authors to acknowledge their work and avoid legal or ethical pitfalls.

Understanding Copyright Rules

Navigating the complexities of copyright rules is essential when transforming existing texts into found poetry. It’s not just about selecting words that resonate with you; it’s equally about ensuring you’re legally and ethically compliant. Here are some key points to keep in mind:

Fair Use Doctrine : This principle allows for the transformative use of copyrighted material within certain limits. To qualify as fair use, your found poetry should be transformative, meaning it must add new expression or meaning and not just copy from the original. Also, consider the amount of the original text you use—less is often more under this doctrine.
Attribution Matters : Always credit the original authors and sources. This respects the creators and helps maintain transparency and integrity in your work. Citing sources can sometimes protect you from plagiarism claims, especially when the source is acknowledged.
Consult Experts : When in doubt about the extent of transformations or the nuances of copyright law, seek advice from copyright experts or legal resources. Professional guidance can help clarify complex issues and ensure your creative work complies with legal standards.
Respect Copyright Laws : Take the time to familiarize yourself with the relevant copyright regulations. Understanding these laws helps prevent unintentional infringements and supports respectful and lawful use of existing works.

By keeping these guidelines in mind, you can enjoy the creative process of crafting found poetry while respecting the original works and their creators.

Respecting Original Sources

Honouring the original creators by crediting their work is a cornerstone of crafting found poetry ethically and legally. You’ve got to navigate the fine line between inspiration and infringement. Here’s a quick guide to keep you on track:


	Mandatory citation	Honours authorship
	Obtain permission if needed	Respect ownership
	Limited excerpts	Preserve intent
	Bibliographic details	Transparent attribution

Sticking to these guidelines ensures you avoid legal pitfalls and respect the intellectual labour behind the original text. It’s about building on the existing narrative fabric with integrity, ensuring your found poetry stands as a homage rather than a heist.

Common Mistakes to Avoid While Writing Found Poems

Found poetry, the art of reshaping existing texts to give them new form and meaning, can be a deeply rewarding creative process. However, it’s easy to stumble along the way. By avoiding these pitfalls, you’ll enhance your ability to create impactful and meaningful poems that resonate with readers. Remember, found poetry is as much about discovery as creation, so allow yourself the freedom to experiment and learn from each attempt. Here are some common mistakes you might encounter when crafting found poems and practical tips to avoid them.

1. Losing the Essence of the Original Text

Problem: While found poetry involves reimagining a text, completely stripping the original context or mood can result in a poem that feels disjointed or meaningless.

Solution: Stay true to the spirit of the original source. You can achieve this by:

Keeping pivotal words or phrases that capture the essence of the original text.
Maintaining a theme or tone that resonates with the source material, even as you transform it.

2. Overcomplicating the Structure

Problem: It’s tempting to make complex poems with intricate structures, but this can overshadow the raw power of the found words.

Solution: Keep it simple. Focus on:

Letting the words and phrases stand out by using minimalistic formatting.
Employing straightforward structures that enhance, rather than overshadow, the meaning of the words.

3. Ignoring the Visual Layout

Problem: Found poems aren’t just about the words; their visual arrangement on the page is equally crucial and often overlooked.

Solution: Be mindful of the poem’s visual appeal. Experiment with:

Different alignments and spacing to emphasize key parts of your poem.
Unique typography or handwritten elements to add a personal touch.

4. Sticking Too Closely to the Source

Problem: Adhering too closely to the source material can stifle your creative freedom and make the poem feel more like a copy than an original creation.

Solution: Break free creatively by:

Introducing your own words or phrases if they enhance the poem.
Rearranging words into completely new sentences or thoughts that diverge from the original.

5. Overusing Common Words and Phrases

Problem: Repeating common words and phrases can make your found poem seem cliché or uninspired.

Solution: Inject freshness by:

Selecting less obvious or more striking text from your source.
Using synonyms or related concepts to express similar ideas in a novel way.

6. Forgetting the Power of Punctuation

Problem: Neglecting punctuation in found poetry can lead to a lack of rhythm or flow, making the poem hard to read.

Solution: Use punctuation effectively by:

Adding commas, periods, or breaks to guide the reader’s pace and understanding.
Experimenting with punctuation for dramatic effect, like a series of rapid-fire questions or a strategically placed ellipsis.

7. Not Editing Ruthlessly

Problem: The reluctance to cut or significantly alter the initial draft can leave unnecessary words that dilute the impact of your poem.

Solution: Edit with a critical eye:

Remove any words that don’t contribute to the new meaning or aesthetic you’re aiming for.
Be open to several rounds of edits to refine and clarify your poem.

Examples of found Poems

Found poems are crafted by reframing them as poetry by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other sources. The result is a piece that gives new meaning to the original texts. Here are a few examples of found poems that demonstrate the diversity and creativity of the genre:

“This Is Just To Say” by William Carlos Williams Though not a found poem in the traditional sense, this piece mimics the style and can inspire similar creations. Williams’ poem takes the form of a note left on a refrigerator, apologizing for eating plums that were saved. Its simplicity and everyday language make it akin to a found poem.

“The Times Are Tidy” by Sylvia Plath Plath’s poem is an excellent example of a found poem where the language is taken from something structured and formal—in this case, newspaper articles—and rearranged to create a new, poetic piece. The poem reflects on societal norms and constraints, showcasing her ability to weave critique into new narratives.

Newspaper Blackout by Austin Kleon Austin Kleon creates found poems by using a marker to black out portions of newspaper pages, leaving behind only the words that make up his poem. This visual element adds a graphic dimension that complements the text’s meaning.

“World’s Worst Country Music Song Titles” by Tad Tuleja This humorous poem is constructed entirely from bizarre and real song titles found in country music. By carefully selecting and arranging these titles, Tuleja crafts a narrative that is both funny and poignant, reflecting on the quirks of country music themes.

“Of the Empire” by Mary Oliver Oliver’s found poem reflects on societal and political issues, using text from government documents and speeches. The poem is a critique of empire and governance, showcasing how existing texts can be transformed into powerful poetic commentary.

Additional Tips for Mastering Found Poem Writing

Mastering the art of writing found poems involves a keen eye for selecting text and a creative touch in weaving these excerpts into a cohesive and evocative piece. By integrating these tips into your practice, you can enhance your ability to create found poems that are beautiful and intriguing and resonate with a broad audience. Here are some additional tips that can help you refine your skills in crafting found poems:

1. Cultivate a Curious Mindset: Always be on the lookout for potential source material. Whether reading a book, browsing a magazine, or even observing public signs, cultivate a mindset that sees poetic potential in everyday texts.

2. Experiment with Different Sources: Don’t limit yourself to traditional literary sources. Explore diverse materials such as technical manuals, diaries, brochures, digital media posts, and even transcripts of conversations. Each source offers unique language and stylistic elements that can enrich your poetry.

3. Play with Structure: While the words themselves are found, the structure is where you can truly innovate. Play with different poetic forms, such as sonnets, free verse, or haiku, to see how they transform the original meaning of the words.

4. Embrace Constraints: Sometimes, constraints can boost creativity. Challenge yourself to create a poem using only words from a single page or one that tells a story using only newspaper headlines. Constraints can often lead to surprisingly creative results.

5. Use Digital Tools: Leverage technology to your advantage. Text generators and word frequency counters can help you see patterns and possibilities you might miss alone. They can also be a source of inspiration during writer’s block.

6. Focus on transformativeness: Ensure that your poem does more than just rearrange the words; it should offer a new perspective, insight, or emotional impact. Aim to transform the selected text so thoroughly that it takes on a life of its own, separate from the original context.

7. Edit Ruthlessly: Found poetry is as much about what you leave out as what you include. Be ruthless in your editing. Cut out anything that doesn’t serve the poem’s theme or aesthetic goal, even if those phrases or lines initially caught your eye.

8. Respect Copyright and Ethical Considerations: Always be mindful of copyright laws when using found materials. Opt for public domain sources or get explicit permission if necessary. Respecting the original creators’ rights while making new art is essential.

9. Keep a Poetry Journal: Maintain a journal where you can paste snippets of text that strike you, along with notes on possible themes or connections. This practice can serve as a valuable reservoir of ideas for future poems.

10. Share and Seek Feedback: Share your poems with a community of readers and writers to get feedback. Other perspectives can help refine your technique and deepen your understanding of how your poetry resonates with others.

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Home » Poem Generators » AI Found Poem Generator- Convert Any Text to Poems

AI Found Poem Generator- Convert Any Text to Poems

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Writing a found poem is like venturing on a treasure hunt through language, where every word and phrase holds the potential to unlock a new domain of creativity. This art form allows you to weave together snippets of text from various sources into a cohesive, emotionally resonant piece. And now, with the advent of the AI-found poem generator, this process has become even more accessible and intriguing. This innovative tool serves as your digital muse, offering a seamless blend of technology and poetic inspiration. By the end of this guide, you’ll not only master the art of found poetry but also learn how to harness the capabilities of AI to elevate your creative expression.

What is a Found Poem?

When crafting a found poem, you selectively extract and reshape words or phrases from existing texts to form a unique poetic creation. This process involves repurposing language to create new meanings and contexts.

Found poetry allows for diverse perspectives and creative expression by challenging traditional notions of authorship. By utilizing existing material in a creative way, poets can explore a wide range of themes and structures, offering a platform for experimentation.

With the advancement of technology, tools like AI found poem generator or found poetry generators have made it easier to discover inspiration from various sources. These tools can aid in the creative process by providing a starting point for poets to delve into the world of found poetry. Embracing found poetry opens doors to endless possibilities for artistic expression and allows for a deeper exploration of language and creativity.

Different Forms, Styles, and Techniques Used in Found Poetry

Different forms, styles, and techniques used in found poetry present unique avenues for poets to explore creative expression and reinterpret existing texts. When delving into the world of found poetry, you may encounter various methods to craft your own unique piece. Here are some popular forms and techniques used in found poetry:

Blackout Poetry: Involves redacting or crossing out words from a source text to create a new poem.
Cut-up Technique: Entails cutting and rearranging words or phrases from different sources to form a poem.
Cento Form: A type of found poetry composed entirely of lines from other poems.
Erasure Poetry: Involves selectively erasing words from a text to reveal a poem within the remaining words.

Exploring these diverse approaches allows you to experiment with language, structure, and meaning to shape your found poem. Additionally, tools like a found poem generator or found poem maker can aid in the process by providing random snippets of text for inspiration. Experiment with these techniques to unlock your creativity and craft compelling found poetry.

How to Write a Found Poem?

When writing a found poem, you can either manually select source material like articles or letters to extract words and phrases from, or you can simply use an AI Found Poem Generator.

Manual Methods to Write Found Poetry

When crafting a found poem, start by choosing source material like newspapers, speeches, or letters. Next, maintain the original words but manipulate them to fit your poetic vision. Finally, experiment with structure, line breaks, and formatting to bring your unique found poem to life.

Selecting Source Material

Select source material such as newspapers, speeches, or letters when embarking on the creation of a found poem. To enhance your found poem writing process:

Choose diverse texts for inspiration.
Identify resonant keywords and phrases.
Analyze tone, language, and imagery.
Experiment with rearranging and manipulating text creatively.

Retaining Original Words

In crafting a found poem, ensure you retain the original words from selected source material like newspapers, speeches, or letters with minimal alterations. Found poems maintain the essence of the source text by creatively manipulating its structure and form. By preserving the language of the original material, poets can convey new meanings and emotions, offering a fresh perspective on familiar texts while challenging traditional notions of authorship and originality in poetry.

Determining Poem Structure

Craft your found poem’s structure by closely considering the natural flow of language within the selected source material, allowing it to guide your decisions on line breaks and overall composition.

Experiment with different line breaks and stanza lengths.
Utilize punctuation to enhance rhythm and meaning.
Adjust structure based on the desired emotional tone.
Play with spacing and word arrangement for visual impact.

Challenging Traditional Notions

Challenging traditional notions, you can breathe new life into existing texts by employing manual methods to craft found poetry. By choosing key words and phrases from various sources, you reshape the text to convey a different meaning. This manipulation of language challenges the conventional ideas of authorship and originality in poetry. Experimenting with structures and themes allows you to create a unique and thought-provoking found poem that defies traditional boundaries.

Crafting Line Breaks

Consider strategically breaking lines in found poetry to create rhythm, impact, and enhance the overall flow of your poem.

Experiment with different line breaks to emphasize specific words or phrases.
Use line breaks to control the pacing of the poem.
Think about how line breaks can alter the reader’s experience and interpretation.
Pay attention to the natural pauses, cadence, and emotional resonance of the words when deciding where to break lines.

Embracing Creative Possibilities

To fully embrace the creative possibilities of writing a found poem, begin by selecting a source text that resonates with you from materials such as articles, books, or letters. Identify key phrases that spark inspiration and rearrange them to form a new poetic composition. Experiment with techniques like blackout poetry or erasure to creatively manipulate the text. Edit and refine your poem to ensure coherence and emotional impact, crafting a distinct voice in your final creation.

Using the AI Found Poem Generator

If you’re wondering about the AI Found Poem Generator, you’ll discover its ability to create found poems using artificial intelligence. By inputting text into the tool, you can generate unique poetic compositions with ease. The AI rearranges and manipulates the words to craft a fresh found poem, offering a convenient and innovative approach to exploring this poetic form.

What is the AI Found Poem Generator?

The Found poem generator is an AI generator that takes any text and automatically generates a found poem from it. The user enters or uploads a source text and the algorithms then identify poetic fragments and recombine them into an original found poem output.

The AI Found Poem Generator uses artificial intelligence to create found poems.
It analyzes and rearranges text inputs to generate poetic compositions.
Users can input articles, poems, or speeches for the AI to work with.
The tool helps writers explore new poetic possibilities and structures.

Benefits of Using the AI Found Poem Generator

Enhance your found poem creation process with the AI Found Poem Generator’s automatic curation and generation capabilities. By utilizing this tool, you can streamline the creation of found poems through its suggestions and text combinations. Tailor the generated poems to your preferences by inputting specific themes or source material. Explore new creative avenues and discover unique word arrangements and poetic structures that may spark fresh inspiration in your poetic endeavors.

Steps to Use the AI Found Poem Generator

Start your found poem creation journey by exploring the user-friendly interface of the AI Found Poem Generator, designed to streamline the process with its advanced text analysis and customization features.

Input your chosen source material into the generator.
Select key words and phrases to influence the poem’s content.
Customize the structure, tone, and style according to your preferences.
Experiment with different settings to generate multiple versions of your found poem.

Where to Find Interesting Source Materials for Found Poem?

Delve into a variety of sources such as newspapers, magazines, and online articles to uncover captivating material for your found poem. Newspapers offer current events and diverse perspectives, while magazines provide a range of topics and writing styles. Online articles can introduce you to trending issues and unique voices that can inspire your poetic creation.

Visit your local library or bookstore to find old books, letters, or historical documents that can offer rich language for your found poem. These sources may present a more traditional or formal tone, adding depth to your poem with their historical context.

Browse through song lyrics, advertisements, or even social media posts to discover unique phrases and expressions that can bring a modern and relatable touch to your found poem. These sources can infuse your poem with contemporary language and themes.

Consider using speeches, interviews, or dialogues from films and TV shows as a source of powerful and emotive language for your found poem. These spoken words can add a dynamic and emotional element to your poetic piece.

Look into public domain texts, such as classic literature or government reports, which can provide a wealth of language and themes to incorporate into your found poem. These timeless pieces can bring a sense of depth and literary heritage to your poem.

How to Arrange Your Text to Create a Cohesive Found Poem?

Craft your found poem by identifying key words and phrases that align with your theme, ensuring a cohesive and impactful composition. When arranging your text to create a cohesive found poem, consider the following tips:

Identify key words and phrases : Highlight words and phrases that resonate with your intended message to maintain coherence.
Consider flow and rhythm : Pay attention to the natural flow and rhythm of the text as you rearrange and manipulate the words.
Experiment with structures : Try out different structures like line breaks, stanzas, or patterns to enhance the visual and auditory impact.
Create seamless connections : Ensure a seamless connection between borrowed text fragments to achieve a meaningful composition.

How to Identify Meaningful Words, Phrases, or Passages for Found Poetry?

To create a compelling found poem, carefully select words, phrases, or passages that deeply resonate with the central theme or message you aim to convey. When identifying meaningful elements for your found poetry, look for words or phrases that evoke strong emotions, spark curiosity, or pique interest. Consider the context in which these words appear and the connotations they carry to ensure they blend seamlessly into your poem’s fabric.

Delve into the source material to extract key elements that contribute significantly to the overall meaning and impact you wish to achieve. Play with different combinations of words and phrases, experimenting to find the most potent and evocative language for your poem. By focusing on selecting words that align with your desired message and theme, you can craft a found poem that resonates deeply with your audience and conveys the essence of your creative expression.

How to Use Line Breaks, Spacing, and Formatting to Enhance the Meaning of Found Poetry

Enhance the impact of your found poem by strategically incorporating line breaks, spacing, and formatting techniques. Here are four ways to use these elements effectively:

Create Emphasis: Use line breaks to draw attention to specific words or phrases, highlighting their significance within the poem.
Establish Rhythm: Experiment with spacing to control the pace at which the poem is read, influencing the overall rhythm and flow of the piece.
Visual Appeal: Consider formatting choices like alignment and indentation to enhance the visual presentation of the poem on the page, adding to its aesthetic appeal.
Layered Meaning: Utilize different fonts or text sizes to introduce layers of meaning, guiding the reader’s interpretation and understanding of the poem.

Common Mistakes to Avoid While Writing a Found Poem

Avoid hastily replicating text without infusing your own analysis or imaginative touch when crafting a found poem. Simply copying and pasting without adding your interpretation or creativity can result in a mundane and lackluster poem. Remember, the essence of found poetry lies in transforming existing text into a new and thought-provoking piece through your unique perspective.

Refrain from selecting overly long or complex source materials that could complicate the process of creating a coherent found poem. It’s essential to strike a balance between the richness of the source material and the clarity of the final poem. Additionally, be vigilant about plagiarism by citing the original sources properly. Failing to do so not only disrespects the original authors but also undermines the integrity of your own work.

Ensure that you do not alter the original meaning of the source text to the extent that it distorts the intended message. Straying too far from the essence of the original material can lead to confusion or misinterpretation. Finally, resist the urge to overcomplicate the structure or language of the found poem. Simple yet impactful choices often resonate more with readers and convey the essence of the source material effectively.

Additional Tips to Consider

Experimenting with various source materials is key to unlocking the creative potential of your found poem. To enhance your found poem writing process, consider the following additional tips:

Explore Diverse Sources: Branch out from traditional texts and consider using sources like song lyrics, advertisements, or even old letters to add a unique flair to your found poem.
Experiment with Form: Don’t be afraid to play around with different poetic forms such as haikus, sonnets, or free verse when crafting your found poem.
Embrace Ambiguity: Allow for multiple interpretations and layers of meaning within your found poem by incorporating ambiguous language and imagery.
Revise and Refine: Take the time to revise and refine your found poem, paying attention to the flow, coherence, and overall impact of the piece to ensure it resonates with your intended audience.

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Castles in the Sky: Screening, Poetry Reading, and Conversation

The Department of English is co-sponsoring a film screening of Castles in the Sky (a 30-minute short film) directed by Pearl Gluck, Penn State Associate Professor of Film Production, on September 5 from 3:30-5:00pm .

The film depicts Malke, a Holocaust survivor and beloved sex-ed teacher living in a cloistered Hasidic community in Brooklyn. Malke has a secret life slamming poetry in New York’s Lower East Side, defying all communal norms and laws until her transgressive pursuits are discovered by one of her bridal students. Is Malke willing to risk it all for her poetry?

Creative Writing director Julia Spicher Kasdorf makes a brief cameo appearance in the film, reciting a poem she performed in the Nuyorican Poets Café back in the 1990s. Following the film screening, Kasdorf will take part in a conversation about cross-cultural conversations and art-making with the film’s director Professor Pearl Gluck, along with and Yermiyahu Ahron Taub, a poet, writer, and translator who grew up in the Hasidic community, moderated by Penn State Sparks Professor of English Shara McCallum.

Please see the attached poster for more details about the event.

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The Department of English is co-sponsoring a film screening of Castles in the Sky (a 30-minute short film) directed by Pearl Gluck, Penn State Associate Professor of Film Production, on September 5 from 3:30-5:00pm.. The film depicts Malke, a Holocaust survivor and beloved sex-ed teacher living in a cloistered Hasidic community in Brooklyn.
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Introduction to Found Poetry

1. Dada Poetry

2. Cut-up and Remix Poetry (Découpé)

3. Blackout Poems

4. Erasure Poems

6. Acrostic Poems and Golden Shovels

Found Poetry and Plagiarism

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How to Write Found Poetry

Found poetry examples

Write a found poem!

Found Poetry - Next Steps

Found Poetry

History of Found Poetry and Found Object Art

Examples of Found Poetry

Example #2 The Unknown by Hart Seely

Example #3 The Writings of William S. Burroughs

The Definitive Literary Glossary Crafted by Experts

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Found Poetry: Creative Visual Poems in Your Art

What is Found Poetry?

Found Poetry Comes in Many Styles and Forms

Blackout Poetry: Blacking Out Words to Leave a Poem

A Page From William Shakespeare’s Much Ado Nothing

Don’t Want to Use Actual Books? Use a Blackout Poetry Journal!

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Found Poetry With Cut-Out Words

Fun Inspiration & Resources for Creating Found Poetry

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2. Print Out Words to Cut and Remix into Creative Poems

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