Gregory Corso’s “The American Way” puts a primary focus on what could potentially lead the country into ruin. The speaker focuses on the forces at play within the country that could spell out an impending doom for the nation. Ideologies and ideas are crashing together, but America seems ready to repeat the mistakes of the […]
Born into this…
The pressure of life weighs upon us, Presses upon us— There is no relief from the expectations, From the “opportunities,” From the responsibilities. Each day I see people being swept away, Away from peace and contentment, Swept toward frustrations, Toward commitment, Into expectations, Commitments, Obligations, Into more and more work. We are born into this. […]
I’m a blogging woman. I’m a blushing woman. I’m an Anne Waldman Woman.
I am going to count it as the divine workings of fate that Anne Waldman’s “Fast Speaking Woman” was the last poem on the list to be read this week. It had to be fate, not just the alphabet, because none of the other listings were alphabetized. Waldman just happened to be last. If her […]
The Quarrel- Language and Format
Through DiPrima’s language and format, she conveys her anger of her partner in a way that is spread through every line. Her language is informal, relying more on a conversational type of written word. This feels like a poem you would write in your diary, angry at your partner who is just not understanding your […]
Allen Ginsberg, “A Supermarket in California”
In the first stanza of Ginsberg’s poem, “A Supermarket in California,” he opens with addressing Walt Whitman, the famous 19th century poet. Ginsberg walks under the full moon and then, “shopping for images,” enters a supermarket and thinks of Whitman’s enumerations. Enumerations are defined as “the action of mentioning a number of things one by […]
Buddhism in Kerouac’s “The Perfect Love of Mind Essence”
Based on my past experiences, I would consider myself someone who does not like beat poetry. I can appreciate the style and the cultural situation that caused it to arise, but besides understanding it I have never found a connection or deeper reverence for the style. When learning about beat poets in previous English classes, […]
The Quarrel
A Close Reading of Diane di Prima’s “The Quarrel” Diane di Prima’s “The Quarrel” is seemingly about a woman who is angry with her artist husband/partner/Mark as he draws “Brad who was asleep on the bed” while she has both an external and internal dialogue about her feelings of being ignored and overworked. She […]
La Matriarca
“’The Willingness to Speak:’ Diane di Prima and Italian American Feminist Body Politics,” written by Rosanne Giannini Quinn, discusses Diane di Prima’s significance within the context of Italian American culture. Quinn highlights many pieces of di Prima as well as many movements that she was a part of. This article was written in 2003 for […]
Hey Jack Kerouac, Set the record straight. Ginsberg’s “Sunflower Sutra” sounds more like Montale than Blake.
This post discusses the intertextuality between Ginsberg’s “Sunflower Sutra” and Montale’s “Portami il girasole, (Bring me the Sunflower).” It aims to illustrate how the latter could be a source for the former. While the poems are published at a distance of three decades (Montale’s in 1925 and Ginsberg’s in 1955), they both draw upon the […]