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The Beat Generation The Beat Generation

The Beat Generation - PowerPoint Presentation

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The Beat Generation - PPT Presentation

the only people for me are the mad ones the ones who are mad to live mad to talk mad to be saved desirous of everything at the same time who burn burn burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars ID: 495687

figurative language poetry beats language figurative beats poetry poem beat kerouac poetic mad 60s road snyder american casualties human

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Slide1

The Beat Generation

“the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time,

…[who] burn

, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.

-Jack

Kerouac (On the Road)Slide2

The Beats

BohemianThe practice of an unconventional lifestyle

Celebrated non-conformity and spontaneous creativity

Focus on performance, which later inspired ‘Slam Poetry’

Drew a lot of inspiration from Romanticism

Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman, Poe, DickinsonSlide3

Founders

Allan Ginsberg (1926-1997)Howl, America

Mostly

Poetry

Opposed

militarism, materialism and

sexual repressionJack Kerouac (1922-1969)On the Road (1957)Buddhism, Catholic spirituality, jazz, drugs, sexuality and travelWanted to write ‘the next Great American Novel’William S. Burroughs (1917-1997)Naked Lunch (1959)Almost predicted future (AIDS, crack pandemic, liposuction)Semi-autobiographical workFormer heroin addict, traveler, convicted of manslaughter (wife in 1951), depressionNovels, novellas, short stories, essaysSlide4

Scroll of On the RoadSlide5

Gary Snyder

The “Thoreau of the Beats”Rural background & wilderness experienceMoved to Japan, Zen BuddhismMet in New York City, ended up in San Francisco in the mid-1950sName was coined by Kerouac, dual meanings of both being “tired” or “beaten down” and “upbeat” “beatific”

This was directly in response to a casual conversation about Fitzgerald and the Lost Generation of the American 1920s

Largely middle-class, white, definitely a ‘boys club

PNW (!!)

Kerouac spent a bunch of time in the North CascadesThe Dharama BumsOn the RoadReed College (Portland, OR)Slide6

Important Places

ColumbiaGreenwich VillageSan FranciscoSlide7

Characteristics of the Beat Culture

Rejection of received standardsInnovations in style

Use of illegal drugs

Alternative sexualities

An interest in examining religions

A rejection of materialism

Explicit portrayals of the human conditionSlide8

Beatniks

The name suggested that Beats wereFar out of the mainstream societyPossibly pro-Communist

Used as a new stereotype

Man with a goatee and a beret reciting nonsensical poetry and playing bongo drums

Became satirized and appeared in cartoons, movies, etc.

Some original Beats embraced the beatniks stereotypes, though many criticized them as inauthentic poseurs

Original hipsters?Later became HippiesSlide9

Legacy & Impacts

The Obscenity TrialsLawrence Ferlinghetti arrested for distributing “Howl” in 1957

In the 1960s elements of the Beat movement where incorporated into the hippie and larger counterculture movements

Spiritual liberation

Sexual revolution (or liberation)

Demystification and/or decriminalization of marijuana

Evolution of rhythm and blues into rock and roll as a high art form (Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones, etc)Spread of ecological consciousness (Snyder)Opposition to the military-industrial machine civilizationSlide10

Causalities of the Beats

“Kerouac was a casualty too. And there were many other casualties that most people have never heard of, but were genuine casualties. Just as, in the 60s, when Allen and I for a period there were almost publicly recommending people to take acid. When I look back on that now I realize there were many casualties, responsibilities to bare

.” – Gary Snyder

Much of the drug use that the Beats advocated for spiraled from an emphasis on opening creative spaces into a recreational dependence that bordered on (or outright was) dangerousSlide11

Beat Poetry: 50s & 60s American Literature

Over the next week or so we will be exploring Beat Poetry (as well as Confessional Poetry, the Beats’ [mostly] female counterpart)

You will be responsible for understanding and being able to apply

basic poetic terms

to these works

You will be tested on these terms (after Spring Break, as part of our 50s/60s literature unit)Slide12

Poetic Structure

Enjambment

(in verse) the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.Slide13

Poetic Structure

Refraina repeated line or number of lines in a poem or song, typically at the end of each verse.Slide14

Poetic Structure

Stanza

A grouped set of lines within a poemSlide15

Figurative Language

MetaphorA figure of speech in which something is compared or directly related to something elseSlide16

Figurative Language

SimileA figure of speech in which something is compared using words such as ‘like’ or ‘as’Slide17

Figurative Language

PersonificationAttributing human characteristics to something non-humanSlide18

Figurative Language

Allusionan expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing

referenceSlide19

Figurative Language

ImageryThe formation of mental images, figures, or likeness of thingsSlide20

Figurative Language

SymbolismThe use of symbols to represent ideas or qualitiesSlide21

For the Union Dead

By Robert LowellLowell was a

Confessional poet

Poetry of the personal, or “I”

Emerged late 50s, early 60s

As a class we will read the poem out loud

You and a partner will be responsible for identifying each literary element within the poem(Remember – this will be good practice for what you will be tested on)Additionally, you and your partner will need to come up with a brief summary of what this poem is aboutAs with your critical reading, if you are unsure of what something means: look it up! Allusions only make sense if you understand the references…