The Great Gatsby is chic, hip and somewhat smooth and sexy. It's poetic indeed, yet much more with a subtle erotic flavor, and wild. The Roaring 20s are the focus, and it's one big party after another. Though I think Gatsby tends to focus on human interaction - and scandel. Affairs, crime, alcohol, drugs, it's all here. Very wild and rash, yet kind of bland and unadorned. 
 Hip and slick, the Great Gatsy is a novel full of the passion in the 20s, and a portrayal of unfulfilled love.