When and How to Pair:
Introduce this text at the end of The Great Gatsby: Chapter V, to help students generate a discussion on Jay Gatsby’s character and his desires. Have students read Sandburg’s poem and contrast it with Gatsby’s love for Daisy. Now that students understand that Gatsby standing and looking out at the green light across the water is symbolic of his love and desire for Daisy, have students explore the contrast between Gatsby and the speaker in Sandburg’s poem. Both Gatsby and the speaker feel the absence of someone in their lives. Gatsby has wealth and material possessions, but doesn’t have the one person he truly wants. The narrator in Sandburg’s poem calls for everything to be taken from him but the love of another person. Have the students use the poem, and the contrast in circumstances, to help analyze Jay Gatsby’s character.