Dismayed with a war and the overall tone of American life, the Beats emerged as writers who went against the grain and rallied for the unpopular and marginalized people and ideas. Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs became the main voices of this generation. William T. Lawlor’s “General Introduction” is a helpful overview of the time period and the ensuing movement.
Here’s how to find it: Lawlor, William T. "General Introduction." Beat Culture: Icons, Lifestyles, and Impact. Ed. William T. Lawlor. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC Clio, 2005. xiii-xviii. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Vol. 222. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center. Web. 31 Dec. 2012.
You might also better understand some of their writing if you understand some of their references: Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats and The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats.
DO NOW: Click on comments. Compare any of the poems by McKay, Hughes, Ginsberg, or Ferlinghetti from the text, the handouts, or the video clips. Sign your comments with your first name and last initial.
Partying Towards Perfection
9 years ago
Ginsberg and Ferlinghetti's poems were very interesting. Ginsberg's poem has a different type of line length than any of the other poems we have read so far. The tone for Ginsberg's poem was mysterious and the tone for Ferlinghetti's poem was anxious. -Victoria G.
ReplyDeleteThe two poems, "Ballad of the Landlord" and "America" are very similar in the fact that they both discuss the hardships of living in an american society during the 1920's. The two speakers share their stories to tell us stories that may be true during the Harlem Renaissance.
ReplyDelete-Nick A
The poems "I Am Waiting" written by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and "America" written by Claude McKay, are both similar in that they both talk about America. Ferlinghetti's poem is made up of enjambment sentences where McKay's has one or two lines of enjambment. Both poems strongly present their theme, America, and a struggle for freedom. McKay expresses his feelings towards America by stating that she is bitter and "steal[s] [his] breath of life" (McKay). Though he begins his poem with feelings of unhappiness towards America, he then continues by confessing that he loves it. "Her hate" (McKay) gives him strength and something to look forward to each day like "a rebel fronts a king in a state" (McKay). Ferlinghetti emphasizes the words "I am waiting" in order to truly get his feelings across to the reader. He is waiting for American to find itself again as a whole despite the corruption and abuse that has taken place. He states "[he] is waiting" (Ferlinghetti) which shows that he is not giving up on the American dream like McKay. Both express love and devotion toward American though it may not express it back to them.
ReplyDelete-Jordan C.
The poems by Hughes and McKay illustrate life during the Harlem Renaissance. Both Hughes and McKay use more of a rhythm style of poetry. Ginsberg and Ferlinghetti do not really use rhymes in their poetry. Ferlinghetti uses a more common style of poetic writing but,Ginsberg on the other hand uses a unique style of writing very different from the other poets.
ReplyDelete-Christian G.
Poets McKay and Hughes are two inspirational poets. What they spoke about is very similar and describes the hardships and problems during the renaissance. They both speak about how it is to live in this time period and how hard it may be. Both poets, although different styles, the message is still the same; “times aren’t easy, but we can step up and make a difference.”
ReplyDelete-Anthony C.
"Metaphors" by Sylvia Plath is a lyric poem. It must be analyzed in order to figure out a meaning of the poem and learn that the narrator is pregnant and unprepared. "Not Waving But Drowning" by Stevie Smith is a narrative poem so it is easier to understand and has more of a story rather than a series of thoughts.
ReplyDelete-Dana N
"Ballad of the Landlord" by Langston Hughes and "Harlem Dancer" Claude McKay are two very good poems. Both have to do with the difficulties of living and working in, presumably, Harlem, and the way the poets go about depicting it is the same. Both are very lyrical and emotional and also, have a sense of rhyming.
ReplyDelete-Jake G.
"Not Waving But Drowning" was the easiest poem to understand. It was very straight forward and made me feel something because of what happened to the man in the story. "Ballad Of The Landlord" was very inspirational and made me understand more about the conditions during the Harlem Renaissance.
ReplyDelete-Megan S.
"America" by Claude McKay and "A Supermarket in California" by Allen Ginsberg presents the fact that a lot of "marginalized" people had to struggle with the adversity at that time, Harlem Reneissance. This described circumstances in both poems show us that the America unfairly treat many people. However, the difference between those two poems is the tone in the last part of them. "America" looks like the speaker has hope, but in "A Supermarket in California", the speaker seems to be skeptical.
ReplyDeleteDonghwan K.
Both McKay and Hughes poems stood out to me because there messages were identical. They had similar ideas describing societies hardships during the renaissance. McKay portrays an idea where there is better days to come ahead of him in his poem "America" and I found that to be interesting when compared to the other passages.
ReplyDelete-George C.
Langston Hughes and Claude Mckay were both writers of the famous, artistic movement in the 1920's called the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was the period of time in history where African Americans expressed their inner emotions about the racist hardships they were living through into forms of art and literature. Both poems "America" and "Ballad of the Landlord" are similar in which they express the hardships and feelings of African Americans of that period of that time.
ReplyDelete-Marisa R
The poems "America" by Claude McKay and "I Am Waiting" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti really stood out to me. I liked how both poems spoke of how difficult America could be at times and how it can be unfair but deep down everyone really loves it and everything it has to offer. Both poems were very inspiring to me and I think they portrayed America very well.
ReplyDelete- Christina Hussey
The poem “America” by Claude McKay really stood out to me because it was an inner city poet that wasn’t really taken seriously due to false connotations that people in harlem were uneducated. She made her poem stand out by using the structure of a Shakespearian sonnet so people paid attention to the message and it was able to influence more people than a regular poem would. The poem by Langston Hughes “Ballad of the Landlord” is a very “in your face” poem due to the fact that it lets the reader peer into a window of the Harlem Renaissance and see how it actually was from the perspective of the victims of the prejudice going on at that time.
ReplyDelete-Tyler P
I felt that Ginsberg’s poem “A Supermarket in California” was extremely odd and difficult to understand, it actually took quite a while before I could get a sense of what was going on. The underlying message I got from the poem was that literature is dying especially when the author referred to two famous writers who have past on, Walt Whitman and Garcia Lorca. As for Ferlinghetti’s “I am Waiting” poem, I also got the same underlying message of literature fading. -Megan H
ReplyDeleteThough the poems we have read thus far have been very interesting and unique in their own way. Hughes and McKay’s poems explains the lifetime of the Harlem Renaissance and both of their style of literature are similar whereas in Ginsberg’s and Ferlinghetti‘s poetry their literature style is extremely different. Ginsberg writing has a unique style to it and a very mysterious tone to it, while Ferlinghetti uses fairly similar writing to other poets, but has a lot of enjambed lines. – Vanessa Guillaume
ReplyDeleteA supermarket in California was great. Allen Ginsberg definitely shows how much of an influence Walt Whitman was in his life. Allen wishes that he could personally experience the world that Whitman came from in the nineteenth century. One question that I do have, is why a supermarket? Maybe to symbolize variety and how diverse his world is poetry is.
ReplyDeleteClaudy N.
"America" by Claude McKay and "I am waiting" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti seem to be the most similar of poems. It is interesting that they were written in two different periods of time but have the same message. Both poets are looking for a better America. They use metaphors to show they are unhappy with their current situation in America. Both have a similar sad tone but still seem hopeful in a way.
ReplyDelete- Julianna C.
The poems by Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti are the very odd and seem hard to comprehend at first. The poem “A Supermarket in California” by Ginsberg is a weird poem because the way it was written felt very random it was a surprise that this was even considered a poem rather than random stuff written in a piece of paper. Ferlinghetti’s poem, “I Am Waiting”, was easier to understand, but with lines like “the fleeting lovers on the Grecian Urn”, a reader would have to look it up to understand why that certain line is in the poem.
ReplyDelete- Darwin U
The poems by Langston Hughes and Claude Mckay are similar. They both talk about the hardships of living in America. Also in both poems it seems like they want to escape or make a change but they can't. If Hughes hits his landlord he goes to jail and Mckay says there will be better days ahead.- Matt D
ReplyDeleteAllen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti both created poems that are opposed to previous poetic style. " A Supermarket in California" by Allen Ginsberg focuses more on content and structure rather than focus on iambic pentameter. The structure in the poem mirrors the content. Ginsberg created lines that a lengthy, this parallels the idea that a supermarket has long isles. The lines of the poem represent the aisles. Lawrence Ferlinghetti in "I am waiting" uses sentence structure in an interesting way as well. The short lines and the repetitive use of "I am waiting" creates anxiety. This poem also ignores traditional poetic structure but creates a more emphasized effect for the reader. Both poets were able to use sentence structure to strengthen their poems and began a new movement on how poems are written .
ReplyDelete-Doug C.
I enjoyed most of these poems but I specifically liked American by Claude Mckay and Supermarket in Cali by Allen Ginsberg. I really enjoyed the 4 line structure of Mckay used. Throughout the poem I thought the speaker didn't like America but towards the end I realized that she sees a bright future for America even though times with really rough. I thought Supermarket in California had a couple different options to what Is going on. But In the end I seem to think that the speaker is on some strong drugs that might be making him see things/imagine. - Matt.H
ReplyDeleteThe poem "waiting" see, as if it was referring to a citizen of America who wants America to be perfect, but as the narrator talks and gives detail on what he waiting on he uses allot of reference to fairy tales and things that are fictional stories, which one can conclude that the narrator knows America can't be perfect. The narrator a still goes on how he will be waiting for ever for America to change for the best and he makes allot religious reference like the second coming of Jesus, so you can assume this narrator is a christian who wants America to accept Jesus and follow the christian way so i believe. This was a long poem with allot to offer as in meaning.
ReplyDeleteAdewale Taiwo
"I Am Waiting" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and "A Supermarket in California" by Allen Ginsberg, both poems discuss about America society. The narrators in these two poems are the writters because they both use "I" to tell poems. Lawrence Ferlinghetti uses a lot of repetition and allusion in his poem. He repeats 6 times "I am Waiting" in each paragraph through out the entire poem. This repetition creates a feeling of anxiety. Allen Ginsberg also uses repetition in his poem; however, unlike Ferlinghetti's repetition, Ginsberg is foucusing on sentence structure rather than repeats the words. Ginsberg asks a lot of questions through out his poem. This parallelism creates a feeling of loneliness and confusion.
ReplyDelete---Peng Q
The poem, “I Am Waiting” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti reminds me of the poem “America” by Claude McKay because both poems talk about their feelings towards America. In “America” the speaker feels like this country has oppressed him. However, the racism and discrimination he endures every day, gives him the strength to carry on and that is why he still loves America. The speaker in this poem says, “Darkly I gaze into the days ahead, and see her might and granite wonders there.” This entails that he is hopeful of a better future in America when America will stop oppressing people so that the country can grow and prosper. Letting everyone who lives and loves America to honestly be free, will make “her” a better country. On the other hand, the poem, “I Am Waiting” has a sarcastic tone which makes it seem like the speaker has lost hope in the future of America. He keeps referencing past discoveries of America and wonders what else there is to be hopeful for. He doesn’t believe nothing great can happen in this country anymore. This is shown through the last line of the poem, “and I am awaiting perpetually and forever a renaissance of wonder”. The fact that the speaker said he is waiting forever means that he will continue to wait for nothing because everything that he is waiting for will never happen. His repetition of “I am waiting” is just a sarcastic way of saying that he can wait, but the wait will last forever.
ReplyDelete- Esther P.
- Esther P.
The poem “Ballad of the landlord” by Langston Hughs and the poem “America” by Claude McKay are interesting poems. The poems are similar because of their tone towards the topic. They are also making the readers intrigued in their poetry. In the “Ballad of The Landlord” Langston is stressing the harsh reality of a person with color living in that time period. How color people were treated differently. While McKay’s poem “America” expresses his liking of America, The flaws and his devotion to it. George P.
ReplyDelete"A supermarket in California" it's an interesting poem, but it seems to indicate that the narrator was on some type of drugs that lead to him seeing all these things, or maybe he just was dreaming of the whole thing. The poem doesn't clearly say what it is talking about or what the narrator was feeling. I also to be kind of comical at the same time with all the things he claim he saw.
ReplyDeleteAdewale Taiwo
Lawrence Ferlinghetti's “I Am Waiting” and “America” by Claude McKay are both poems about America, more specifically the issues the country had had. McKay felt that America had put him through many hardships, constantly testing his limits, but that at the end of the day it made him stronger. Ferlinghetti's work had a decidedly more cynical nature about it. The tone throughout “Waiting” is one of anxiety, disappointment, and sadness. Ferlinghetti was waiting for America to show it's true colors, for people to wake up and get a taste of reality. Numerous references to literature and poetry helped paint the picture he was trying to portray, which was that life in America was full of desires and hopes that would never come to be. -Kyle B
ReplyDeleteGinsberg and Ferlinghetti's poems are similar in the way that both poets portrays their speaker anxiously awaiting an event. In "Supermarket in California", the speaker yearns to indulge in the work of poet Walt Whitman, whose style of writing indiscriminately and vividly displayed his views. This anticipation "to meet Walt Whitman" may be due to Ginsberg's inability to write. Ginsberg's constant reference to the late poet may just be to describe the way method in which he wishes to express his own thoughts. Ferlinghetti's speaker also details his anticipation of a new; his longing for a rebirth shows that he can't wait to escape the world he's currently in to be one with no oppression and better days.
ReplyDelete-Ashleigh N.
The poem “Ballad of the landlord” by Langston Hughs and the poem “America” by Claude McKay are both poems of expression. The poems are similar because of their tone towards the point of speaking up about something important. -Emily Z.
ReplyDelete"America" by Claude McKay and "A Supermarket in California" by Allen Ginsberg shows how peope struggles with adversity during the Harlem Reneissance. Both poems show how America had a problem dealing with people that weren't the "normal" for the time period. There is a difference in the tone of these two poems.In "America" the end of the poem the speaker sounds optimistic about the future.On the other hand "Supermarket in California" the speaker is more pessimistic and uneasy about what is to come.
ReplyDelete-Amanda F
The poem "America" by Claude McKay and " I am waiting" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti are very similar. In that they both show point of views of old America and how change is needed. But thanks to the renaissance, there was a revolution coming for the better of the people dealing with adversity. -Ricasso b.
ReplyDeleteLawrence Ferlinghetti's “I Am Waiting” and “America” by Claude McKay are very similar with them both relating to america. McKay sort of like embrasses the wrongs within the world and lets that make him stronger giving him hope. While Ferlinghetti's is like giving up on any type of change for america because he has been waiting so long for things to work out how they should.
ReplyDelete-Omari G.