Beat Poetry

Rebellious Literature of the 1950s

The Beat Movement• Jack Kerouac said that ‘Beat’ stands for the

“weariness with all the forms of the modern industrial state”

• The term "the beat generation" was first used by John Clellon Holmes in a 1952 article, This Is The Beat Generation, about the young people of his time for the New York Times Magazine.

• Recalling a conversation with Jack Kerouac in 1948, Holmes had asked Kerouac to think of a way to describe the unique qualities of his generation; Kerouac came up with the term 'Beat Generation' on the spot. The term "beat" bears connotations of down-beat, worn out, down-and-out, drop-out and beatitude.

Influences• Beats were influenced by authors

like Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams, e.e. cummings, Henry Miller, Ezra Pound, & jazz musicians.

• Beats influenced the country by promoting freedom of expression, non-conformity, and creativity

• Beat fashion – stereotypically wearing black clothing, sunglasses, and berets.

Uncle Walt

William Carlos Williams

E.E. Cummings

Who Started the Beat Movement?

• Jack Kerouac, author – On the Road, Dharma Bums

• Allen Ginsberg, poet– “Howl”, “America”

• William S. Burroughs, author– The Naked Lunch

• Lawrence Ferlunghetti, publisher– The Beats are particularly associated with San

Francisco, especially North Beach. – City Lights Bookstore in

San Francisco

Driving Forces of Beat Literature

(motifs)• Rebellion against society’s norms• Rejection of American virtues of

progress, power, and materialism• Questioning of authority• Sexual liberation• Zen Buddhism

Literary Techniques• Stream of consciousness writing

– Doesn’t follow poetic rules

• Alienated characters• Beat slang: borrowed many other terms

from the jazz/hipster slang of the '40s, such as "square," "cats," "nowhere," and "dig."

• Jazz was a way of life, a completely different way to approach the creative process.

• Spontaneous performance• Poetry is spoken, not sung with jazz music

accompaniment

William S. Burroughs

Neal Cassidy & Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac alley in San Francisco

Jack KerouacKerouac wrote

On the Road on one piece

of paper

Allen Ginsberg

Merry Pranksters in Further & Ginsberg,

Ferlunghetti, & friends (one of the

last pictures of them all together)