Found Poetry with Shakespeare and Hip-Hop

With this activity, you will create found poetry using lines from hip-hop songs and Shakespeare’s works. This activity will help you to demystify Shakespeare's language by juxtaposing it with contemporary poetry (Hip – Hop) that is more accessible. You will evaluate how Shakespeare and hip-hop artists use literary devices to express their ideas about life, social injustice, and change.

What to Do

1. You are divided into groups of four or five. You should have a paper bag and the Found Poetry handout. Place the strips of paper I am about to give you into the paper bag. Shake the contents of the bag really well.

2. Randomly draw (30) thirty lines of poetry out of the bag, ONE AT A TIME. Glue them onto a piece of construction paper, as you pull them from the bag, in the order in which you drew them out. (The lines in plain font are from hip-hop songs; the lines in italicized font are from Shakespeare’s plays and poems.) Make sure you save a little room at the top of the paper for your title…. Once you have glued the ten lines onto your paper, pull ONE line from the bag: use this line to create a title for the poem. (You may do anything you wish with this line, rearrange the words, only use a portion of the words, cut the words up and use the separate letters, the sky’s the limit here; choose a title that is creative and inspiring for your reader.

3. Randomly draw (30) thirty lines of poetry out of the bag, ONE AT A TIME. Glue them onto a piece of construction paper, as you pull them from the bag; this time, however, the first line you draw from the bag will be the last line of your poem, all the way to the last line you pull, which well end up being the first line of your poem. (The lines in plain font are from hip-hop songs; the lines in italicized font are from Shakespeare’s plays and poems.) Make sure you save a little room at the top of the paper for your title…. Once you have glued the ten lines onto your paper, pull ONE line from the bag: use this line to create a title for the poem. (You may do anything you wish with this line, rearrange the words, only use a portion of the words, cut the words up and use the separate letters, the sky’s the limit here; choose a title that is creative and inspiring for your reader!)

4. Now repeat the activity again on a fresh sheet of construction paper. Only this time drawing (30) thirty new lines from the bag all at once. This time, arrange the lines of the poem in any order you like… Once you have glued the thirty lines onto your paper, pull ONE line from the bag: use this line to create a title for the poem. (You may do anything you wish with this line, rearrange the words, only use a portion of the words, cut the words up and use the separate letters, the sky’s the limit here; choose a title that is creative and inspiring for your reader!)

5. Finally, use the remaining strips in the bag. As a group, you will arrange the lines and the words of the poem in any order you want. Feel free to cut the strips and arrange the words and phrases in new ways that communicate a fresh meaning… Once you have glued the lines onto your paper, pull ONE line from the bag: use this line to create a title for the poem. (You may do anything you wish with this line, rearrange the words, only use a portion of the words, cut the words up and use the separate letters, the sky’s the limit here; choose a title that is creative and inspiring for your reader!)

6. Once you are done, as a group read through the four poems you created. Decide as a group which poem you like the best. Then determine who from your group will present that poem to the class.

Love is merely a madness

Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.

The course of true love never did run smooth

We are such stuff as dreams are made of, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.

A man can die but once.

My heart unto yours is knit

I do love nothing in the world so well as you

I give away myself for you

Speak low if you speak love

I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest

My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep

Is love a tender thing?

O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!

They do not love that do not show their love

Love hath chased sleep from my enthrallèd eyes

Love, lend me wings to make my purpose swiftLove is like a child that longs for everything that he can come by

If music be the food of love, play on

For such as I am, all true lovers are

Love sought is good, but given unsought is better

So holy and so perfect is my love

Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love

My love shall in my verse ever live young

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings, that then I scorn to change my state with kings

All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.

How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!

Frailty, thy name is woman.

If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

I am one who loved not wisely but too well.

The lady doth protest too much, methinks

If music be the food of love play on.

What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

To thine own self be true.

All that glistens is not gold.

Nothing will come of nothing.

The course of true love never did run smooth.

Lord, what fools these mortals be!

Cry “havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war.

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.

There are more things in heaven and earth… than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.

The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interrèd with their bones.

But, for my own part, it was Greek to me.

We know what we are, but know not what we may be.

Off with his head!

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.

Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.

This is very midsummer madness.

Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.

I cannot tell what the dickens his name is.

We have seen better days.

I am a man more sinned against than sinning.

Brevity is the soul of wit.

What light through yonder window breaks.

"Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

"The course of true love never did run smooth."

Walk this earth for her, glory, I'm grateful

To be in her presence I try to stay faithful

From lack of love many hide, some run

Love can free us, to it some of us react as a slave

Serenade her, without speaking a word

Because of you I'm stronger, I'm afraid no longer

I feel so alive in me, you have liberated me

I just want you to know your whole being is beautiful

I want to build a tribe with you, protect and provide for you

Loving you is like a battle and we both end up with scars

I chose a road of passion and pain, sacrificed too much and waited in vain

Loving you is a like a song I replay every three minutes and 30 seconds of every day

Every beautiful melody of devotion every night

Is this the pain of too much tenderness?

I hope that you're the one – if not, you are the prototype

We met today for a reason

If what they say is “Nothing is forever,” then what makes love the exception? You're all I've ever wanted, but I'm terrified of you

This the first time that I've ever considered wedding rings

See I use to be a player and all of this is new to me

And it feels so beautiful, put it in a rhyme because it feels so musical

You make my heart skip the beat that I drum to

I want to be the one you run to, when pain confronts you

You're everything, sometimes I get nervous when I'm in front you

Send your soul through your lips to my heart

Sweet music will start, I want you to be the music of my art

Go through the seasons of love and never change with the weather

The language of love cannot be translated

Love is blind, you just see bright light

You will always be in my heart with unconditional love

Real G’s move in silence like lasagna.

We used to fight for building blocks, now we fight for blocks with buildings; that make a killing.

I’m trying to right my wrongs, but it’s funny, them same wrongs helped me write this song.

Climb the ladder to success escalator style.

I wasn’t poor, I was po, I couldn’t afford the o – r.

The best part about me is I am not you.

My mama ain’t raise no fool because my mama ain’t raise me, fool.

Better late than never, but never late is better.

I won’t say I’m the baddest, or portray that role, but I’m in the top two, and my father’s getting’ old.

My life is one big rhyme, I try to scheme through it.

I’m so ahead of my time, my parents haven’t met yet.

I see beef as dead meat.

Believe when I say I’m no better than you, except when I rap, so I guess it ain’t true.

Instead of war on poverty, they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me.

If I’m fake I ain’t notice ‘cause by money ain’t.

Remember one thing… Through every dark night, there’s a bright day after that. So no matter how hard it get, stick your chest out. Keep your head up, and handle it.

Life is a wheel of fortune and it’s my turn to spin it.

You gotta be able to smile through the bullshit.

Everybody’s at war with different things, I’m at war with my own heart sometimes.

Forgive but don’t forget girl, keep ya head up. And when he tells you, you ain’t nothing don’t believe him, and if he can’t learn to love you, you should leave him.

My mama always used to tell me: if you can’t find something to live for, you best find something to die for.

 

You see my tears, in the rain underneath it all, we’re just the same.

Life is too short to live the same day twice. So each new day make sure you live your life.

Cause whatever you love can be taken away, so live like it’s your dying day.

Why do we try so hard to fit in, when we were born to stand out?

 

If I woke up tomorrow and didn’t have a dolla, as long as I have my heart, I can get it all over.

Life without dreaming is a life without meaning.

Ice melts into rain, love turns into pain. Here I go again, falling in love again.

Rather lose love than to move on never knowing what it felt like.

I like the person that you are, but I’m in love with the person that you have potential to be.

Ambitious girl, you just wanna win and you’d rather chase your dreams, then to try chase these men that try to chase these skirts, that try to chase these shots with flavors that ain’t even as sweet as her.

 

Living well eliminates the need for revenge.

Memories have to be our most painful blessing.

If you admire someone, you should go ahead and tell them. People never get the flowers while they can still smell them.

I could let these dream killers kill my self-esteem, or use my arrogance as a steam to power my dreams.

No matter where life takes me. Find me with a smile.

They’re gonna try to tell you no, shatter all your dreams. But you gotta get up and go and think of better things.

Kept breaking promises you said you would keep, so you can leave a message at the beep.

If you’re scared to take chances, you’ll never have the answers.

You have to keep your vision clear, cause only a coward lives in fear.

Everything will eventually come to an end. So try to savor the moments, because time flies, don’t it? The beauty of life is to make it last for the better. Because nothing lasts forever.

Trust your own judgment, live with it and love it.

What do you base your happiness around? Material, women, and large paper? That means you’re inferior, not major.

 

When people treat you like nothing, you begin to feel like nothing.

We always ignore the ones who adore us, and adore the ones who ignore us.

Jealousy is just love and hate at the same time.

 You’ve got enemies? Good, that means you actually stood up for something.

Sometimes you just gotta let s*** go and say ‘to hell with it’ and move on.

You can make something of your life, it just depends on your drive.

The truth is you don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride and nothing is guaranteed.

My life, my choices, my mistakes, my lessons, not your business.

People say that bad memories cause the most pain, but it’s actually the good ones that drive you insane.

Never apologize for what you feel. It’s like apologizing for being real.

Take the first chance that you get, because you may never get another one.

They say love is the key. Somebody changed the lock.

Women are the most beautiful yet difficult beings known to man.

Love me or hate me, I stay hate free. They say we learn from mistakes well that’s why they mistake me.

If you don’t love me somebody else will.

I remember the love right after the fights. You can’t tell me you don’t remember those nights.

Damn right I like the life I live, cause I went from negative to positive.

We can’t change the world until we change ourselves.

If you don’t love yourself, I’ll make you see your own heart.”

Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis. When I was dead broke man I couldn’t picture this.

Some of y’all are not where you want to be in life. Yet you party every weekend. What exactly are you celebrating?

Never mind what hater’s say, ignore ’em till they fade away.

 

Regardless of how it goes down, life goes on.

How many people you bless, is how you measure success.

Everyday is a new opportunity to reach that goal.

A man who treats his woman like a princess is proof that he has been born and raised in the arms of a queen.

I love you like a fat kid loves cake.

I’m the type to swallow by blood before I swallow my pride.

I’ll be your best friend, if you promise you’ll be mine.

Sunny days wouldn’t be so special, if it wasn’t for rain. Joy wouldn’t feel so good, if it wasn’t for pain.

Make a business for yourself, boy, set some goals. Make a fat diamond out of dusty coals.

Don’t cry, dry your eyes, never let up. Forgive but don’t’ forget, girl, keep your head up.

So here I go. It’s my shot, feet fail me not, this may be the only opportunity I got.

My mind is living on cloud nine, and this nine is never on vacation.

I’m too loyal and too focused to be losing and be hopeless.

Everybody dies, but not everybody lives.

I took my bruises, took my lumps, fell down and got right back up.

Far from a Harvard student, just had the balls to do it.

Even the genius asks his questions.