Found poetry

About copyright
Philosophy of copyright Idea-expression divide
Intellectual Property (IP)
Copyright • History • Moral rights Authors' rights • Attribution Related rights • Enforcement Registration • Royalties Collecting • Orphan works Public Lending Right Copyright myths Copyright term Perpetual copyright Rule of the shorter term
Copyright legislation
Copyright term by country International copyright agreements Berne Convention Australia • Canada United Kingdom • UK (1911) United States • DMCA
Limitations and exceptions
Traditional knowledge Public domain • Copyfraud Fair use • Fair dealing First-sale doctrine Against perpetual copyright Criticism of IP • Anti-copyright Copyleft • Free Art License Creative Commons
Copying
Copyright infringement Counterfeiting • Plagiarism Derivative work
Fair use
Cento • Found poetry • Glosa Erasure poetry • Cut-ups Flarf • Spoetry • Epigraph Pastiche • Parody • Allusion Best practices in fair use
More IP topics ...

Alternative poetry
Spoken poetry
Oral tradition Oral interpretation Oral literature Oral poetry • Ethnopoetics Poetry reading How to read poetry out loud Performance poetry How to perform poetry Sound poetry • Slam poetry Spoken word • Rap • Dub
Found poetry
Cento  • Erasure poetry Cut-up technique Flarf • Spoetry
Visual poetry
Pattern poetry Carmen figuratum Diamante • Calligram Concrete poetry How to write a concrete poem Haptic poetry Concrete and visual poets
Digital poetry
Hypertext poetry Interactive poetry

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/or lines (and consequently meaning), or by altering the text by additions and/or deletions. The resulting poem can be defined as either treated: changed in a profound and systematic manner; or untreated: virtually unchanged from the order, syntax and meaning of the original.

Examples

An example of found poetry appeared in William Whewell's "An Elementary Treatise on Mechanics":

Hence no force, however great,

can stretch a cord, however fine,

into a horizontal line

which is accurately straight.

Though when it was pointed out to him, an unamused Whewell changed the wording in the next edition.Template:Fact

In 2003, Slate writer Hart Seely found poetry in the speeches and news briefings of Donald Rumsfeld. In a transcript of a Department of Defense news briefing from February 12, 2002, Rumsfeld ruminated on "The Unknown":

As we know,

There are known knowns.

There are things we know we know

We also know

There are known unknowns.

That is to say

We know there are some things

We do not know.

But there are also unknown unknowns,

The ones we don't know

We don't know.

Hart Seely published Rumsfeld's poetry in the book, Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld (2003). American composer Phil Kline set Rumsfeld's lyrics to music in "Rumsfeld's Songs", a song cycle released on Zippo Songs (2004). Pianist Bryant Kong also used Rumsfeld's lyrics on his release "Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld".

In July 2009, US talkshow host Conan O'Brien twice asked actor William Shatner to deliver the written words of former Alaskan Governor and Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin in the style of beat poetry. Shatner performed Palin's Farewell Speech on July 27, 2009, and several of her "Tweets" on 29 July, 2009, during The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien. Shatner was supported by a bongo player and double-bassist.

Another well known example of a public figure's speech being converted into found poetry was the baseball play calls of Phil Rizzuto. Rizzuto was the announcer for the New York Yankees baseball team for some 40 years, and some of his at times rambling or disjointed commentary was collected and reformatted by Hart Seely and Tom Peyer into a collection of Rizzuto's found poetry. An example is Rizzuto's thoughts on the death of Yankees catcher Thurmon Munson in an airplane crash:

"The Man in the Moon"

The Yankees have had a traumatic four days.

Actually five days.

That terrible crash with Thurman Munson.

To go through all that agony,

And then today,

You and I along with the rest of the team

Flew to Canton for the services,

And the family...

Very upset.

You know, it might,

It might sound a little corny.

But we have the most beautiful full moon tonight.

And the crowd,

Enjoying whatever is going on right now.

They say it might sound corny,

But to me it's like some kind of a,

Like an omen.

Both the moon and Thurman Munson,

Both ascending up into heaven.

I just can't get it out of my mind.

I just saw the full moon,

And it just reminded me of Thurman Munson,

And that's it.

See also

• Cento
• Erasure poetry
• Flarf
• Spoetry

References

Template:Appropriation in the Arts

nl:Gevonden poëzie