The Beat Generation

1. The Beat Generation By: Gema Hernandez, Ernest Viola, Jericho Garcia, and Victoria Cunanan.

2. 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.

3. The Beat Generation • 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

4. Beat Generation poetry • 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.”

5. Prominent literary devices • Metaphors • Personification • Imagery • Symbol • Simile

6. Allen Ginsberg • American Poet • Born: June 3, 1926, Newark • Died: April 5, 1997, New York City • He is best known for his opposition on militarism, economic materialism and sexual repression. • 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”

7. “Song” By Allen Ginsberg • The weight of the worldis love.Under the burdenof solitude,under the burdenof dissatisfactionthe weight,the weight we carryis love.Who can deny?In dreamsit touchesthe body,in thoughtconstructsa miracle,in imaginationanguishestill bornin human--looks out of the heartburning with purity--for the burden of lifeis love,but we carry the weightwearily,and so must restin the arms of loveat last,must rest in the armsof love. • No restwithout love,no sleepwithout dreamsof love--be mad or chillobsessed with angelsor machines,the final wishis love--cannot be bitter,cannot deny,cannot withholdif denied:the weight is too heavy--must givefor no returnas thoughtis givenin solitudein all the excellenceof its excess.The warm bodiesshine togetherin the darkness,the hand movesto the centerof the flesh,the skin tremblesin happinessand the soul comesjoyful to the eye--yes, yes,that's whatI wanted,I always wanted,I always wanted,to returnto the bodywhere I was born

8. Section Analysis of song • Personification • “Who can deny?In dreamsit touchesthe body,in thoughtconstructsa miracle,in imaginationanguishestill 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.

9. POp QUIZ • WHAT are some factors during the time period that may have lead to the Beats Movement

10. Extended allenginsberg • 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.

11. a supermarket in California 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 courage-teacher, 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? 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.

12. 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

13. 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”

14. GREGORY CORSO • BORN: March 26, 193 • DIED:  January 17, 2001 • 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. • 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

15. 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!

16. 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. • Figurative Language: symbol, imagery • 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

17. Think OF a topic you can write a poem about that relates to the beats generation NOW WRITE A SHORT POEM ABOUT IT: 5mins

18. Jack Kerouac • Born: March 12, 1922, Lowell • Died: October 21, 1969, St. Petersburg • 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

19. How to Meditate -lights out- fall, 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 held- forth figure of image, you spoof it out, you spuff it off, you fake it, and it fades, and thought never comes-and with joy you realize for the first time 'thinking's just like not thinking- So I don't have to think any more'

20. 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

21. 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.

22. THE END Secret quiz: who is FLASH GORDON?