I created this found poem based off the words in the short story “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl. In the story, Mrs Maloney had prepared a nice dinner for her and her husband but then faces disrespect from her husband and gets bossed around by him. On the other hand. Mrs Maloney had only wanted to make her husband feel better as he had been at work all day, which is why this led her to killing her husband in the end. Mrs Maloney had offered several times to make supper for him, which is shown in the first few lines of my found poem, but was rejected by her husband harshly. Instead, her husband orders her to sit down impolitely. When Mrs Maloney offered for the last time to make supper, her husband didn’t stop her, but when she already took out the lamb leg Mr Maloney harshly scolded her and said he wasn’t going to eat supper and was going out. This was where the conflict happens, as the wife feels disrespected and the husband just orders her around. Without a doubt, Mrs Maloney kills her husband, which is where the man vs man external conflict is shown as Mrs Maloney physically hurt her husband.

But through the found poem I created, I chose a black background as to show Mrs Maloney’s internal feelings of hopelessness and betrayal. Through the story we can see that she really loved her husband, and being ordered around and toyed with really made her feel hopeless and betrayed, and which led her to kill her husband in the end. I chose elements related to crime scenes as Mrs Maloney killing her husband is a crime itself, and I made each line like a clue leading to the next until finally it leads to the line where Mrs Maloney kills her husband.