Golden Shovel Poetry
Weave a famous line of poetry into each line of your own poem
The Golden Shovel is a constraint poetry form where each line of your poem ends with consecutive words from a famous poem or phrase. For example, if your source is 'I have a dream,' your three lines would end with I, have, and a dream respectively. Created by poet Terrance Hayes, this form creates dialogue between your voice and literary tradition. It's a respectful way to engage with canonical texts while creating your own original work.
How to start
- 1Choose a famous poem, song, or meaningful quote
- 2Write out each word separately—these will end your lines
- 3Compose a line of poetry for each word in the source
- 4Ensure each line ends naturally with that word
- 5The result reveals both your voice and the original text
What you'll need
- Favorite poem or quoteEssentialFree
- Notebook or text editorEssentialFree
Where to learn more
Plot twists
Ways to spice this up when the basics get boring.
- Write a Golden Shovel using song lyrics as your source
- Create multiple Golden Shovels from the same source poem
- Write a narrative Golden Shovel that tells a story across multiple source lines
Clear constraint structure with creative freedom within bounds. Mechanical task of matching ending words provides structure; writing the content provides creativity.
Terrance Hayes created the Golden Shovel as a way to honor and transform earlier poets. It's become a popular form for poets responding to historical texts.
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