Beat Poets Essay, Research Paper

The "Beat Movement" in modern literature has

become an important period in the history of

literature and society in America. Incorporating

influences such as jazz, art, literature, philosophy

and religion, the beat writers created a new and

prophetic vision of modern life and changed the way

a generation of people sees the world. That

generation is mow aging and its representative

voices are becoming lost to eternity, but the

message is alive and well. The Beats have forever

altered the nature of American consciousness. The

Beat Generation of writers offered the world a new

attitude. They brought to society a consciousness of

life worth living. They offered a method of escape

from the stultifying, unimaginative world we live in,

through the exploration of one’s intellect. Beat has

had many different contemporary implications in

music, poetry and literature. Literature has been

liberated considerably. The poetic form has been

changed to inaugurate a new poetic form, an

American form. "There was less emphasis on

tradition and more emphasis on the individual

talent. (www.rohan.sdsu.edu)" One of the most

important contributions to contemporary verse was

to take poetry out of the classrooms and into

non-academic setting-coffee houses, jazz clubs,

large public auditoriums and even athletic stadiums.

Poetry is more popular and more read than anytime

in history, not only spoken poetry but also sung

poetry of a high order. "The literature, coordinated

by pop music, with a way of dressing, with a way of

life, it something that has influenced the youth of the

world not only in Western countries but Eastern

countries as well. (www.charm.net)" Music has been

influenced greatly by Beat writing. The lyrics of many

great songs have forever been changed by the

writing of the Beat Generation. "Bob Dylan’s favorite

poet was Allen Ginsberg. Ginsberg became one of

Dylan’s greatest friends. He worked on many

projects with Dylan…The band Rage Against the

Machine has many of Ginsberg’s poems and words

show up in their songs. For instance the song ‘Bulls

on Parade’ includes Ginsberg ‘Hadda Been Playing

on the Jukebox’ (www.charm.net)" Generation X

writers are compared to the Beat writers. Many

people say that the "generation coming to age has

the potential to bring a new vision to society. The

Beats thumbed their noses at the corporate world

just like Generation X does today.

(www.altx.com/io/beatgeneration.html)" Many

writers of Generation X have been influenced by the

writing like Andy Clausen, Eliot Katz, Geoffrey

Manough and Ed Sanders. There are many writers

that have been influenced but have not been

included in the Generation X section. These writers

took up the flame of the Beat flavor, keeping it

strong. James Wright was one of the writers that

kept the flame going. "He was much admired poet

of his generation…(www.rohan.sdsu.edu)" His

works have a "sense of Midwestern American

bleakness…(www.rohan.sdsu)" One of his poems

goes like this "My bones turn to dark emeralds Your

hands turn yellow in the ruins of the sun Suddenly I

realize That if I stepped out of my body I would

break Into blossom (www.rohan.sdsu.edu)" Another

such writer with Beat flavor would be Adrienne Rich.

"Rich’s work established the importance of gender

in shaping a poetic consciousness and she

became a mentor to thousands of women, enabling

them to ’speak the unspeakable,’ to authenticate

their unique experience of reality.

(www.rohan.sdsu.edu)" Beat writing has made a

great impact on the writing of today’s generation. It

has allowed people to be more open with

themselves and the people that are reading their

works. It is also allowed people to be more open

minded to new ideas that these works brought to

the surface for everybody to see. Where early

writing was stiff, beat writing allowed for the writing

to come after it to beat to a different drummer. Beat

writing has expanded the world of literature, poetry

and music to a higher level for people to enjoy. BIB

www.charm.net/~brooklyn/Topics/BeatGen.html

www.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/sixties/index.html

www.rohan.sdsu.eduThe "Beat Movement" in

modern literature has become an important period

in the history of literature and society in America.

Incorporating influences such as jazz, art, literature,

philosophy and religion, the beat writers created a

new and prophetic vision of modern life and

changed the way a generation of people sees the

world. That generation is mow aging and its

representative voices are becoming lost to eternity,

but the message is alive and well. The Beats have

forever altered the nature of American

consciousness. The Beat Generation of writers

offered the world a new attitude. They brought to

society a consciousness of life worth living. They

offered a method of escape from the stultifying,

unimaginative world we live in, through the

exploration of one’s intellect. Beat has had many

different contemporary implications in music, poetry

and literature. Literature has been liberated

considerably. The poetic form has been changed to

inaugurate a new poetic form, an American form.

"There was less emphasis on tradition and more

emphasis on the individual talent.

(www.rohan.sdsu.edu)" One of the most important

contributions to contemporary verse was to take

poetry out of the classrooms and into non-academic

setting-coffee houses, jazz clubs, large public

auditoriums and even athletic stadiums. Poetry is

more popular and more read than anytime in

history, not only spoken poetry but also sung poetry

of a high order. "The literature, coordinated by pop

music, with a way of dressing, with a way of life, it

something that has influenced the youth of the world

not only in Western countries but Eastern countries

as well. (www.charm.net)" Music has been

influenced greatly by Beat writing. The lyrics of many

great songs have forever been changed by the

writing of the Beat Generation. "Bob Dylan’s favorite

poet was Allen Ginsberg. Ginsberg became one of

Dylan’s greatest friends. He worked on many

projects with Dylan…The band Rage Against the

Machine has many of Ginsberg’s poems and words

show up in their songs. For instance the song ‘Bulls

on Parade’ includes Ginsberg ‘Hadda Been Playing

on the Jukebox’ (www.charm.net)" Generation X

writers are compared to the Beat writers. Many

people say that the "generation coming to age has

the potential to bring a new vision to society. The

Beats thumbed their noses at the corporate world

just like Generation X does today.

(www.altx.com/io/beatgeneration.html)" Many

writers of Generation X have been influenced by the

writing like Andy Clausen, Eliot Katz, Geoffrey

Manough and Ed Sanders. There are many writers

that have been influenced but have not been

included in the Generation X section. These writers

took up the flame of the Beat flavor, keeping it

strong. James Wright was one of the writers that

kept the flame going. "He was much admired poet

of his generation…(www.rohan.sdsu.edu)" His

works have a "sense of Midwestern American

bleakness…(www.rohan.sdsu)" One of his poems

goes like this "My bones turn to dark emeralds Your

hands turn yellow in the ruins of the sun Suddenly I

realize That if I stepped out of my body I would

break Into blossom (www.rohan.sdsu.edu)" Another

such writer with Beat flavor would be Adrienne Rich.

"Rich’s work established the importance of gender

in shaping a poetic consciousness and she

became a mentor to thousands of women, enabling

them to ’speak the unspeakable,’ to authenticate

their unique experience of reality.

(www.rohan.sdsu.edu)" Beat writing has made a

great impact on the writing of today’s generation. It

has allowed people to be more open with

themselves and the people that are reading their

works. It is also allowed people to be more open

minded to new ideas that these works brought to

the surface for everybody to see. Where early

writing was stiff, beat writing allowed for the writing

to come after it to beat to a different drummer. Beat

writing has expanded the world of literature, poetry

and music to a higher level for people to enjoy.

Bibliography

www.charm.net/~brooklyn/Topics/BeatGen.html

www.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/sixties/index.html

www.rohan.sdsu.edu