The Beats

1. The Beats

2. History of the Beats Beat poetry evolved during the 1940s in both New York City and on the west coast, although San Francisco became the heart of the movement in the early 1950s. The end of World War II left poets like Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Gregory Corso questioning mainstream politics and culture. These poets would become known as the Beat generation, a group of writers interested in changing consciousness and defying conventional writing. The Beats were also closely intertwined with poets of the San Francisco Renaissance movement, such as Kenneth Rexroth and Robert Duncan. The battle against social conformity and literary tradition was central to the work of the Beats. A group of American poets and novelists who formed a close knit association in the second half of 1950s and early decades of 1960s. They rejected the mainstream American values and experimented with drugs and alternate forms of sexuality. They favored unrestricted self-realization and self-expression. The cultural phenomenon that they inspired was later sometimes called "beatniks"

3. Themes Spiritual liberation, sexual "revolution" or "liberation," i.e., gay liberation, somewhat catalyzing women's liberation, black liberation, Gray Panther activism. Liberation of the word from censorship. Demystification and/or decriminalization of some laws against marijuana and other drugs. The evolution of rhythm and blues into rock and roll as a high art form, as evidenced by the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and other popular musicians influenced in the later fifties and sixties by Beat generation poets' and writers' works. The spread of ecological consciousness, emphasized early on by Gary Snyder and Michael McClure, the notion of a "Fresh Planet." Opposition to the military-industrial machine civilization, as emphasized in writings of Burroughs, Huncke, Ginsberg, and Kerouac. Attention to what Kerouac called (after Spengler) a "second religiousness" developing within an advanced civilization. Return to an appreciation of idiosyncrasy as against state regimentation. Respect for land and indigenous peoples and creatures, as proclaimed by Kerouac in his slogan from On the Road 'The Earth is an Indian thing.'

4. Techniques Metaphors Imagery Reference to the past Diction Allusion Free Verse Use of Romanticism Use of Early American sources Use of Modernism

5. March 26, 1930 Born in New York’s Greenwich Village • His parents were teenage Italian parents • Lived in orphanages/foster homes • Two years after living with his father he ran away • Spent several months in NYC Jail; he was a witness for theft trail. • Spent three months at Bellevue Hospital • At the age 16; sentenced to three years at Clinton State Prison where he began to write poems • Started reading Classics and the dictionary • 1950; introduced to experimental poetry 1954; Moved to Boston • First Poems were published in Harvard Advocate in 1954 • His first book was “The Vestal Lady on Brattle and Other Poems” in 1955 San Francisco; performed readings/interviews Gregory Corso .

6. Notable Works “Last Night I Drove a Car” “The Mad Yak” “Bomb” “Marriage” “Destiny”

7. “Last Night I Drove A Car” Last night I drove a carnot knowing how to drivenot owning a carI drove and knocked downpeople I loved...went 120 through one town.I stopped at Hedgevilleand slept in the back seat...excited about my new life.

8. Analysis “not knowing how to drive, not owning a car” • He never had anyone in his life that was there for him, so he had to do things on his own which caused him to go down the wrong path. • It could also symbolize that the speaker is taking control of their life and doing things that they have never done before. “I drove and knocked down people I loved” • By doing the things he did, he disappointed the people that he loved and cared about. He made some bad decisions too fast causing him to not really care about who he hurt in the process. “…went 120 through one town.” • This line is explaining how fast the events were happening in the speaker’s life. • Even though the poem is so simple and straight to the point it has a deeper meaning that a reader that is young because in the poem it seems as though the speaker is ready and willing to do anything just to experience having his independence and freedom.

9. Allen Ginsberg Born: June 3, 1926  Place of Birth: Newark, New Jersey Died: April 5, 1997 Place of Death: East Village, New York City  Went to Colombia University where the Beat Movement began. His wife Naomi was a radical Communist and irrepressible nudist who went tragically insane in early adulthood. Allen's home life was dominated by his mother's bizarre and frightening episodes Influence: Walt Whitman (the original Beatnik) 

10. Notable Works • Howl and Other Poems With introduction by William Carlos Williams. City Lights, 1956. • A Strange New Cottage in BerkeleyGrabhorn Press, 1963. • Reality Sandwiches: 1953-1960City Lights, 1963. • The Change Writer's Forum, 1963.

11. My Sad Self “Last Night I Drove A Car” To Frank O’Hara Sometimes when my eyes are red I go up on top of the RCA Building           and gaze at my world, Manhattan—                      my buildings, streets I’ve done feats in,                            lofts, beds, coldwater flats —on Fifth Ave below which I also bear in mind,           its ant cars, little yellow taxis, men                walking the size of specks of wool—    Panorama of the bridges, sunrise over Brooklyn machine,           sun go down over New Jersey where I was born              & Paterson where I played with ants—    my later loves on 15th Street,           my greater loves of Lower East Side,              my once fabulous amours in the Bronx                                            faraway—    paths crossing in these hidden streets,       my history summed up, my absences                 and ecstasies in Harlem—       —sun shining down on all I own        in one eyeblink to the horizon                in my last eternity—                                      matter is water.

12. Diane Di Prima • Poems for Freddie, 1966 • Pieces of a Song: Selected Poems, City Lights, 1990 • Selected Poems: 1956-1975, North Atlantic Books, Plainfield, 1975 • Born in Brooklyn in 1934 • Joined the Beat movement in the late 1960’s • Became a bridge between the Beat Movement and the later hippie movement through her writing and editing of other writers • Taught poetry alongside Allen Ginsburg, William Burroughs, and Gregory Corso at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics • Now lives in California, near San Francisco • By this time, she has written over four dozen books of poetry, some of which have been translated in more than 20 languages

13. Notable Works • Poems for Freddie, 1966 • Pieces of a Song: Selected Poems, City Lights, 1990 • Selected Poems: 1956-1975, • North Atlantic Books, Plainfield, 1975

14. “The Window” you are my bread and the hairline noise of my bones you are almost the sea you are not stone or molten sound I think you have no hands this kind of bird flies backward and this love breaks on a windowpane where no light talks this is not time for crossing tongues (the sand here never shifts) I think tomorrow turned you with his toe and you will shine and shine unspent and underground

15. Lawrence Ferlinghetti • Born in Yonkers, New York 1919 • He spent his early childhood in France • Received his BA from the University of North Carolina • Received his MA from Columbia University • Received his PhD from the Sorbonne in Paris • He served in the US NAVAL Reserve and was sent to Nagasaki shortly after it was bombed. • He has translated the work of a number of poets including Nicanor Parra, Jacques Prevert, and Pier Paolo Pasolini. Ferlinghetti is also the author more than eight plays and of the novels Love in the Days of Rage (1988) and Her (1966).

16. Notable Works Books • These Are My Rivers: New & Selected Poems, 1955-1993 (1993), • Over All the Obscene Boundaries: European Poems & Transitions (1984), • Who Are We Now? (1976), • The Secret Meaning of Things (1969), • A Coney Island of the Mind (1958). Poems • Her (1960)Starting from San Francisco (1961)Unfair Arguments with Existence (1963)Routines (1964)The Secret Meaning of Things (1969)Tyrannus Nix? (1969)

17. “To the Oracle At Delphi” Great Oracle, why are you staring at me, do I baffle you, do I make you despair? I, Americus, the American, wrought from the dark in my mother long ago, from the dark of ancient Europa– Why are you staring at me now in the dusk of our civilization-- Why are you staring at me as if I were America itself the new Empire vaster than any in ancient days with its electronic highways carrying its corporate monoculture around the world And English the Latin of our days– Great Oracle, sleeping through the centuries, Awaken now at last And tell us how to save us from ourselves and how to survive our own rulers who would make a plutocracy of our democracy in the Great Divide between the rich and the poor in whom Walt Whitman heard America singing O long-silent Sybil, you of the winged dreams, Speak out from your temple of light as the serious constellations with Greek names still stare down on us as a lighthouse moves its megaphone over the sea Speak out and shine upon us the sea-light of Greece the diamond light of Greece Far-seeing Sybil, forever hidden, Come out of your cave at last And speak to us in the poet's voice the voice of the fourth person singular the voice of the inscrutable future the voice of the people mixed with a wild soft laughter-- And give us new dreams to dream, Give us new myths to live by!

18. Analysis This poem is referring to the Oracle at Delphi. • Dating back to 1400 BC, the Oracle of Delphi was the most important shrine in all Greece, and in theory all Greeks respected its independence.  • People came from all over Greece and beyond to have their questions about the future answered by the Pythia, the priestess of Apollo. And her answers, usually cryptic, could determine the course of everything from when a farmer planted his seedlings, to when an empire declared war. Tone • In the first two stanza, Ferlinghetti makes this poem sound distressing , asking for help • In the 3rd-5th stanza, the tone became more of a hopeful, bright-sided mood. You can see this because in the beginning, Ferlinghetti is always asking the Oracle why are you… and later on you can see that he begins to hope and ask for some great deed to happen that’ll help everyone out. Repetition 1st stanza Great Oracle, why are you staring at me & 2nd stanza Why are you staring at me…

19. Great Oracle, why are you staring at me, do I baffle you, do I make you despair? I, Americus, the American, wrought from the dark in my mother long ago, from the dark of ancient Europa– • Asking a rhetorical question to the oracle • His country America changed its way once was like Europe, never ending fights and wars. Why are you staring at me now in the dusk of our civilization-- Why are you staring at me as if I were America itself the new Empire vaster than any in ancient days with its electronic highways carrying its corporate monoculture around the world And English the Latin of our days– • Judging the way people are living now in their current era. • Comparing America to the old ancient traditions of Europe (Greek and Romans) • Idea of regressing back in time Great Oracle, sleeping through the centuries, Awaken now at last And tell us how to save us from ourselves and how to survive our own rulers who would make a plutocracy of our democracy in the Great Divide between the rich and the poor in whom Walt Whitman heard America singing • Asking the oracle a way to save America from further more corrupting it’s’ country through the rich and the poor. • A reference to one of the influential to the beat generation

20. Far-seeing Sybil, forever hidden, Come out of your cave at last And speak to us in the poet's voice the voice of the fourth person singular the voice of the inscrutable future the voice of the people mixed with a wild soft laughter-- •  Sybil is being compared to this mystical force or creature. • A new leader coming out and giving the people voice over their opinion. And give us new dreams to dream, Give us new myths to live by! • It is asking this mythical creature to grant them their dream so that they may create new dream to live by. How it fits in the movement? • This poem fits into the movement because they are unwilling to reform for the government. The beatniks wanted freedom for everything. This whole movement is about liberation and acceptance to the people.

21. AP Writing Prompts • In Ferlinghetti’s To the Oracle of Delphi, he compared to the American society to the Dark ages of Europa. In a well written essay, describe how you have once regressed back in life through the use of figurative language.

22. Interactive Lesson • In a paragraph, describe how you would feel if you were born during the Beat Generation. How would that impact the way you view society today? Would it be bad or good? Explain why or why not.

23. Quiz • Where did the Beat Movement begin ? • Colombia University • Harvard University • Oxford University • Rice University • What was the importance of Drug use during the Beat Generation? • To gain new perspective in life • Enhances creativity, insight, and productivity • Everyone was doing it • Experimentation led to new things • Which of the theme was NOT part of the Beat Generation • Liberation of the word from censorship • Opposition to the military-industrial machine civilization • Respect for land and indigenous peoples and creatures • Traveling the world and experiencing new perspective

24. Which author mentioned was a bridge between the Beat Movement and the later hippie movement? • Allen Ginsberg • Gregory Corso • Diane Di Prima • True of False: The Beat Generation was a peaceful one, that’s why it’s compared to the Hippie Movement all the time. • Which poet was not from the first wave of the Beat Generation? • Gregory Corso • Lawrence Ferlinghetti • Diane Di Prima • Allen Ginsberg

25. Bibliography • http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/my-sad-self/ • http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/gregory-corso • http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/409 • http://www.beatmuseum.org/ginsberg/GinsbergWorks.html • http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/179385