THE BEAT GENERATION
By: Gema Hernandez, Ernest Viola, Jericho Garcia, and Victoria Cunanan.
WARM-UP
•
What do you guys interpret the Beats era to be about?
•
Discuss it among your tables and we’ll call on someone randomly to tell us their
reasoning.
THE BEAT GENERATION
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The Beat Generation began to rise during the 1950’s, right after World War II
•
the phrase "Beat Generation" in 1948 to characterize a perceived underground, anti conformist youth movement in New York
BEAT GENERATION POETRY
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In poetry from this era, the main topics were surrounded around non-conformist ideals
and rebellion from social norms.
•
You can think of this era as the “hippie era” because the use of drugs, sex, love, money
and rock music, were the center of the Beat generation and Beat poetry.
•
The Beat Generation is all about “counter-culture.”
PROMINENT LITERARY DEVICES
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Metaphors
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Personification
•
Imagery
•
Symbol
•
Simile
ALLEN GINSBERG
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American Poet
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Born: June 3, 1926, Newark
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Died: April 5, 1997, New York City
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He is best known for his opposition on militarism, economic materialism and sexual
repression.
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His father Louis Ginsberg was a poet and a high school teacher, and his mother, Naomi
Livergant Ginsberg, had a psychological illness that was never properly diagnosed
•
His mother’s illness inspired him to write his famous poem titled “howl”
“SONG” BY ALLEN GINSBERG
•
•
The weight of the world
is love.
Under the burden
of solitude,
under the burden
of dissatisfaction
the weight,
the weight we carry
is love.
Who can deny?
In dreams
it touches
the body,
in thought
constructs
a miracle,
in imagination
anguishes
till born
in human-looks out of the heart
burning with purity-for the burden of life
is love,
but we carry the weight
wearily,
and so must rest
in the arms of love
at last,
must rest in the arms
of love.
No rest
without love,
no sleep
without dreams
of love-be mad or chill
obsessed with angels
or machines,
the final wish
is love
--cannot be bitter,
cannot deny,
cannot withhold
if denied:
the weight is too heavy
--must give
for no return
as thought
is given
in solitude
in all the excellence
of its excess.
The warm bodies
shine together
in the darkness,
the hand moves
to the center
of the flesh,
the skin trembles
in happiness
and the soul comes
joyful to the eye-yes, yes,
that's what
I wanted,
I always wanted,
I always wanted,
to return
to the body
where I was born
SECTION ANALYSIS OF SONG
•
Personification
• “Who can deny?
In dreams
it touches
the body,
in thought
constructs
a miracle,
in imagination
anguishes
till born”
• Personification allows the poet to connect with the readers emotion and
thoughts.
• For example:
• “In dreams it touches the body” gives off an aura of life that allows
the reader to imagine what makes the love being described so
powerful.
POP QUIZ
• WHAT are some factors during the time
period that may have lead to the Beats
Movement
EXTENDED ALLEN GINSBERG
•
Born on June 3 1926 in Newark new jersey - April 5, 1997, in New York City, he died from
complications of hepatitis
•
He was admitted to Columbia University, and as a student there in the 1940s, he began
close friendships with William S. Burroughs, Neal Cassady, and Jack Kerouac, all of
whom later became leading figures of the Beat movement. The group led Ginsberg to a
"New Vision
•
Around this time, Ginsberg also had what he referred to as his "Blake vision," an auditory
hallucination of William Blake reading his poems "Ah Sunflower," "The Sick Rose," and
"Little Girl Lost." Ginsberg noted the occurrence several times as a pivotal moment for
him in his comprehension of the universe, affecting fundamental beliefs about his life and
his work. While Ginsberg claimed that no drugs were involved, he later stated that he
used various drugs in an attempt to recapture the feelings inspired by the vision.
A SUPERMARKET IN CALIFORNIA
What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for
I walked down the side streets under the trees with a headache
self-conscious looking at the full moon.
In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went
into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!
What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families
shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the
avocados, babies in the tomatoes!--and you, Garcia Lorca, what
were you doing down by the watermelons?
I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber,
poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery
boys.
I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the
pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?
I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans
following you, and followed in my imagination by the store
detective.
We strode down the open corridors together in our
solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen
delicacy, and never passing the cashier.
Where are we going, Walt Whitman? The doors close in
an hour. Which way does your beard point tonight?
(I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the
supermarket and feel absurd.)
Will we walk all night through solitary streets? The
trees add shade to shade, lights out in the houses, we'll
both be
lonely.
Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love
past blue automobiles in driveways, home to our silent
cottage?
Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courageteacher,
what America did you have when Charon quit poling his
ferry and
you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the
boat
disappear on the black waters of Lethe?
ANALYSIS OF THE SUPERMARKET IN
CALIFORNIA
•
a supermarket in California is dedicated to one of Allen’s poetic heroes and major
influence, Walt Whitman
•
Ginsberg is describing a vision that he and Walt Whitman once talked about
•
Ginsberg wrote this poem to show the difference between urban and organic life
•
a supermarket in California is dedicated to one of Allen’s poetic heroes and major
influence, Walt Whitman
•
when he first enters it seems joyful and together but towards the end it gets darker
and darker
•
Allen is trying to portray the lives we live
•
American consumerism
•
homosexuality
AP PROMPT
• “After reading a supermarket in California, write an
essay and analyze how surroundings and changes
affect the narrator and what literary elements Allen
Ginsberg uses to explore this issue ”
GREGORY CORSO
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BORN: March 26, 193
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DIED: January 17, 2001
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Gregory was abandoned as an infant and was taken in by a foster care. He was abused
throughout his life in the orphanage and when was visited by his father was also beaten.
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As a result he suffered deep depression
•
Age of thirteen he was accused of a crime where he was celled with a murderer which
caused him to be traumatized.
•
He went in and out of jail during his early years for crimes and done his poetry works
during this time.
•
He later went into the beats poetry and created his famous poem “Marriage” published
1960
THE MAD YAK
• I am watching them churn the last milk they'll ever get from me.
They are waiting for me to die;
They want to make buttons out of my bones.
Where are my sisters and brothers?
That tall monk there, loading my uncle, he has a new cap.
And that idiot student of his -- I never saw that muffler before.
Poor uncle, he lets them load him.
How sad he is, how tired!
I wonder what they'll do with his bones?
And that beautiful tail!
How many shoelaces will they make of that!
THE MAD YAK ANALYSIS
•
Title: The Mad Yak can be seen as an unhappy/angry animal
•
Paraphrase: I watched them take the last they can get from me. They wait for me to give
up. They will make us of what is left of me. Where are my family. Our master has got
something new. His friend also bought something new. My family also helplessly taken
away. I wonder what they will do with us and our riches. What can they make out of that.
•
Speaker: First person.
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Figurative Language: symbol, imagery
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Attitude (Tone): Sad, Worried
•
Shifts: 5th line, 7th line
•
Title: The angry emotions evoked from injustice to others
•
Theme: There are many injustices that people undergo
THINK OF A TOPIC YOU CAN WRITE A POEM ABOUT
THAT RELATES TO THE BEATS GENERATION
NOW WRITE A SHORT POEM ABOUT IT: 5mins
JACK KEROUAC
•
Born: March 12, 1922, Lowell
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Died: October 21, 1969, St. Petersburg
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Jack was known as the king of the beats
•
Sought out drugs, girls, booze, crazy people and crazy
situations
•
He struggled with the addiction
•
most notable work is the book called: On the Road
HOW TO MEDITATE
-lights outfall, hands a-clasped, into instantaneous
ecstasy like a shot of heroin or
morphine,
the gland inside of my brain discharging
the good glad fluid (Holy Fluid) as
i hap-down and hold all my body parts
down to a deadstop trance-Healing
all my sicknesses-erasing all-not
even the shred of a 'I-hope-you' or a
Loony Balloon left in it, but the mind
blank, serene, thoughtless. When a
thought
comes a-springing from afar with its
heldforth figure of image, you spoof it out,
you spuff it off, you fake it, and
it fades, and thought never comesand
with joy you realize for the first time
'thinking's just like not thinkingSo I don't have to think
any
more'
HOW TO MEDITATE ANALYSIS
• Talks about how to meditate
• Meditation can endues the same effects as drugs, so it is a substitute for
drugs
• His battle with his alcoholic self
• Meditation helps him forget about his addiction after he finishes his ritual
• Literary device: IMAGERY
AP PROMT #2
• In a brief essay, explain what points Jack Kerouac is trying to
teach in his poem "How To Meditate." Use specific details from
the poem to support your answer.
THE END
Secret quiz: who is FLASH GORDON?