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Available
Call number
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Publication
New Directions (1968), 96 pages
Description
Ferlinghetti is a national treasure, and his voice has become part of our collective conscience. Some of his most famous poems from this collection such as "I Am Waiting" and "Junkman's Obbligato" were created for jazz accompaniment. Written in the conservative post-war 1950s, his poems still resonate, as they will continue to resonate, with a joyful anti-establishment fervor that beats a rhythmic portrait of humanity. Ferlinghetti sings of a world in which "the heart flops over / gasping 'Love'," "cadillacs fell thru the trees like rain," and where "we are the same people / only further from home / on freeways fifty lanes wide." This special 50th Anniversary Edition comes with a newly recorded CD of the author reading the 29 poems of the title section ofA Coney Island of the Mind as well as selections fromPictures of the Gone World.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member 912greens
One of my favorite lines: "A dog walks freely down the street/ and the street he sees is his reality". There are times when I am intensely aware of being that dog.
LibraryThing member JNagarya
Perhaps my favorite early volume by a poet who repeatedly insists that he is not a "Beat," and who is ignored on that point by those who want to lump him in with such as gas-bag Ginsberg, and repetitive Kerouac. According to Ginsberg, the "Beat" "aesthetic" is: "First word, best word."
Ferlinghetti
Ferlinghetti
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expressly disagreed, his being: "First word, worst word." If beng a "Beat" means ignoring the necessity of rewriting, then obviously Ferlinghetti is not a "Beat". Show Less
LibraryThing member whitewavedarling
Poetry that everyone should read, for both entertainment and inspiration, particularly the title poem--wonderful, unique, and vibrant. Ferlighetti's images and wordplay are masterful reminders that meaning, use of space, and sound should all work together in poetry to create truly powerful work. I
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can't recommend this collection highly enough to anyone interested in inspired or inspiring work, or to any reader or writer of poetry. Everyone here should find at least one poem which resonates if the collection is given a real chance. Show Less
LibraryThing member VioletBramble
The version I read was the 50th anniversary edition that includes an audio CD of Ferlinghetti reading 29 of the poems. The book includes all the poems from the original printing. The CD includes 7 poems with jazz accompaniment by the Cellar Jazz Quintet that appears to have been recorded in 1957.
The printing press has made poetry too silent. I want it to be heard, to have the direct impact of speech.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti. 1958
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The poems are wonderful and hearing them read aloud by Ferlinghetti - who sounds like comedian George Carlen- is a treat. I highly recommend not only this 50th anniversary edition, but also any edition of the book you can find.The printing press has made poetry too silent. I want it to be heard, to have the direct impact of speech.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti. 1958
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LibraryThing member paradoxosalpha
This 1950s poetry collection is the most famous writing by Ferlinghetti, who was also lauded as an activist, publisher, bookseller, and painter. It has three principal sections: the title piece, "Oral Messages," and poems from "Pictures of the Gone World."
The title of the book and its first
The second section of the book is "Oral Messages," seven longer poems composed for recitation with "jazz accompaniment" (48), and to incorporate experimentation and spontaneity. (Although this mode is a paragon of Beat Generation performance, and Ferlinghetti did publish prominent Beat authors, he rejected the "Beat" label for his own work.) My favorite of these poems is "Junkman's Obbligato," which urges downward economic mobility in order to champion life and freedom. But a close second is the diffident brag of "Autobiography" ("I am the man. / I was there. / I suffered / somewhat.") succumbing irregularly to atypical end rhyme.
The final thirteen poems are selected from a previous volume "Pictures of the Gone World" that Ferlinghetti had written just three years previously. These are similar to some of those in the first section, and tend toward a narrower and more intimate sensibility--even though the eleventh has the great wide scope of the world as the place for life and death.
Ferlinghetti offers some unflinching anti-Christian blasphemy in the fifth "Coney Island" poem (15-6), but the "Oral Messages" seem to exhibit sincere apocalyptic anticipation ("I Am Waiting") and a hope of obscure divine palingenesis ("Christ Climbed Down").
Despite Ferlinghetti's incorporation of popular culture and accessible idiom, his texts are still in dialog with the canons of elite art and literature. The first poem of the book orients to the painting of Goya to reflect on "maimed citizens in painted cars" (10), and the second one alludes to Homer's Odyssey to indict "American demi-Democracy" (12). Later verses cite Hieronymus Bosch, Morris Graves, Franz Kafka, Dante, Chagall, Proust, and others. The poet fulminates against the enclosure of culture by experts and institutions in poem 9 of "Pictures of the Gone World," but he had an M.A. in English literature and a Ph.D. in comparative literature, and the consequences of this training are everywhere visible in his poems.
Twenty-first century readers may occasionally struggle with a dated allusion or two among these poems (nothing too arcane for a 'net search to remedy, though). Ironically, it is the "popular" and contemporary allusions from the 1950s that are more likely to have passed into obscurity. On the whole, the verses have aged well and still have a sense of immediacy sixty-four years later.
The title of the book and its first
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section was taken "out of context" from Henry Miller's Into the Night Life. Ferlinghetti said that it was to describe the carnivalesque aspect of his own subjective experience in composing the poems. But a different and credible reading is to see the US society that the poet engages in his verse as a mental amusement park: corralling minds into circuitous rides that exhilarate, games that impoverish, and technology that dazzles and mystifies. Still, the weight of these poems often rests not in social criticism but in aesthetic contemplation, libidinal impulse, epistemic anxiety, and similar dilemmas. The second section of the book is "Oral Messages," seven longer poems composed for recitation with "jazz accompaniment" (48), and to incorporate experimentation and spontaneity. (Although this mode is a paragon of Beat Generation performance, and Ferlinghetti did publish prominent Beat authors, he rejected the "Beat" label for his own work.) My favorite of these poems is "Junkman's Obbligato," which urges downward economic mobility in order to champion life and freedom. But a close second is the diffident brag of "Autobiography" ("I am the man. / I was there. / I suffered / somewhat.") succumbing irregularly to atypical end rhyme.
The final thirteen poems are selected from a previous volume "Pictures of the Gone World" that Ferlinghetti had written just three years previously. These are similar to some of those in the first section, and tend toward a narrower and more intimate sensibility--even though the eleventh has the great wide scope of the world as the place for life and death.
Ferlinghetti offers some unflinching anti-Christian blasphemy in the fifth "Coney Island" poem (15-6), but the "Oral Messages" seem to exhibit sincere apocalyptic anticipation ("I Am Waiting") and a hope of obscure divine palingenesis ("Christ Climbed Down").
Despite Ferlinghetti's incorporation of popular culture and accessible idiom, his texts are still in dialog with the canons of elite art and literature. The first poem of the book orients to the painting of Goya to reflect on "maimed citizens in painted cars" (10), and the second one alludes to Homer's Odyssey to indict "American demi-Democracy" (12). Later verses cite Hieronymus Bosch, Morris Graves, Franz Kafka, Dante, Chagall, Proust, and others. The poet fulminates against the enclosure of culture by experts and institutions in poem 9 of "Pictures of the Gone World," but he had an M.A. in English literature and a Ph.D. in comparative literature, and the consequences of this training are everywhere visible in his poems.
Twenty-first century readers may occasionally struggle with a dated allusion or two among these poems (nothing too arcane for a 'net search to remedy, though). Ironically, it is the "popular" and contemporary allusions from the 1950s that are more likely to have passed into obscurity. On the whole, the verses have aged well and still have a sense of immediacy sixty-four years later.
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LibraryThing member antiquary
This was a text in a poetry class I had about 1971-72 at Bowling Green State U. taugt by a very hasiry poet whose name I don't recall. I mildly liked this book at the time.
LibraryThing member jasoncashdollar
One of the most beautiful poems about life toward the end.
LibraryThing member WashburnJ
Absolutely love it...like all the Beats. His "list" poems are fantastic and even better when heard/seen performed. I have my creative writing students read "I'm Waiting" and then have them write a list poem about what it is they're waiting for... We're all waiting for something.
LibraryThing member wildbill
This is a very good book of poetry that I have had for decades and never read. ROOT gave me an excuse to read it and for that I am truly thankful. Ferlinghetti ran a publishing company which published Allan Ginsberg's Howl. He was tried and acquitted on obscenity charges in San Francisco for
He writes with a down to earth working class attitude and a wry sense of humor. Accompanying the humor his poems often include a cold splash of water in your face dose of reality. I prefer to give you some examples of his poetry and let you decide what his style is. The book is short but poetry gets a lot of meaning and impact out of a few words. I only started reading poetry regularly about seven years ago after getting some very good anthologies from my Library of America subscription. I have grown to enjoy the different way that language is used in poetry and I am working to make it a bigger part of my reading diet.
One of my favorite poems is titled "Dog" and has some lines that have a way of constantly going through my mind.
"The dog trots freely in the street
and has his own dog's life to live
and to think about
and to reflect upon
...........
a real realist
with a real tale to tell
and a real tail to tell it with"
How can you forget, a real tale to tell and a real tail to tell it with?
Ferlinghetti's description of the life of a poet.
"Constantly risking absurdity
and death
wherever he performs
above the heads
of his audience
the poet like an acrobat
climbs on rime
to a high wire of his own making"
The cold splash of water in your face.
" Sometime during eternity
some guys show up
and one of them
who shows up real late
is a kind of carpenter........
Him just hang there
on His Tree
looking real Petered out
and real cool
and also
according to a roundup
of late world news
from the usual unreliable sources
real dead"
This is the kind of book I save a five star rating for. I will keep this by my bed so I can read a poem or two when I feel the need.
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selling that book. Many people think of Ferlinghetti as a Beat poet but he prefers to call himself a bohemian. Whatever you call it he writes very good poetry and this book was translated into nine languages. I also own an LP where he reads many of the poems in this book and I easily found many videos of him reading his poetry on the internet.He writes with a down to earth working class attitude and a wry sense of humor. Accompanying the humor his poems often include a cold splash of water in your face dose of reality. I prefer to give you some examples of his poetry and let you decide what his style is. The book is short but poetry gets a lot of meaning and impact out of a few words. I only started reading poetry regularly about seven years ago after getting some very good anthologies from my Library of America subscription. I have grown to enjoy the different way that language is used in poetry and I am working to make it a bigger part of my reading diet.
One of my favorite poems is titled "Dog" and has some lines that have a way of constantly going through my mind.
"The dog trots freely in the street
and has his own dog's life to live
and to think about
and to reflect upon
...........
a real realist
with a real tale to tell
and a real tail to tell it with"
How can you forget, a real tale to tell and a real tail to tell it with?
Ferlinghetti's description of the life of a poet.
"Constantly risking absurdity
and death
wherever he performs
above the heads
of his audience
the poet like an acrobat
climbs on rime
to a high wire of his own making"
The cold splash of water in your face.
" Sometime during eternity
some guys show up
and one of them
who shows up real late
is a kind of carpenter........
Him just hang there
on His Tree
looking real Petered out
and real cool
and also
according to a roundup
of late world news
from the usual unreliable sources
real dead"
This is the kind of book I save a five star rating for. I will keep this by my bed so I can read a poem or two when I feel the need.
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LibraryThing member amelish
Finally, the ones that sing!
LibraryThing member Salmondaze
Huzzah for Lawrence Ferlinghetti for this fine collection of poetry! Not only does he improve upon the work of his first collection in every conceivable way during the titular first section, he augments it with a second section of longer titled poems meant to be read to jazz accompaniment. Bob
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Dylan lifted the style of "Autobiography" completely for his hit song "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall." If this book doesn't justify its millions in sales I don't know what collection of poetry doesn't. The only chink in the armor is the third section which is a selection of what is likely the best of the best of his Pictures Of The Gone World. Show Less
LibraryThing member DanielSTJ
This was a riveting collection of poems, early on, by the famed poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. The style is amazing! I was a bit quizzical by a few of the early poems in the collection, but once I got into the meat of the book I was absolutely astounded by Ferlinghetti's use of imagery, symbolism, and
4.5 stars- well earned!
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diction to convey what he was getting at. This is the early mark of a master that truly made an impression on his era and on poetry itself. It is a great, great book. I recommend it for all who are interested in poetry.4.5 stars- well earned!
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LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
Well, I note that i originally entered this as a book by S.J. Perelman, a now dormant humorist, his stuff not having the eternal themes of Leacock. Mty bad. However, it was one of the iconic poetry collections of the 1960's so if you wish to truly embark on that time period, you had better read it.
LibraryThing member rynk
A poetic carnival true to its billing, with plenty of beatnik sideshows. The first page is a gem, recalling the firing squad from Goya's "The Third of May 1808." The middle section is the prototype for the poetry slam, which helps explain the CD-enhanced 50th anniversary edition.
LibraryThing member thorold
This New Directions paperback from 1958 brings together a selection of poems from Ferlinghetti's first, self-published collection Pictures of the gone world (1955) with two new, longer poems, "A Coney Island of the mind" and "Oral messages".
The title poem, "a kind of circus of the soul," in 29
"Oral messages" are jazz poems, meant for live performance but still quite effective on the page, again full of clever puns and literary references that you would probably only pick up on a very subliminal level in performance. "Pictures of the gone world" range a little more widely, with a few nods to the lyrical tradition, but still in the light-footed style of "Coney Island".
The typographic design, with its classic underground "typewriter-style" look, is superb — I loved that they even went as far as using freehand underlining for emphasis instead of italics. Freda Browne is credited as the designer, while the cover is by Rudolphe de Harak.
The title poem, "a kind of circus of the soul," in 29
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sections, taking its title from a line of Henry Miller's — is something like the Ferlinghetti version of "Howl", a confrontation between the poet's sensibility and the banality of Eisenhower's America. But it's all a lot more playful and literary, full of mischievous echoes of everyone from Wordsworth, Keats and W B Yeats to T S Eliot and James Joyce. Where Ginsberg's lines thump out at you in a merciless rhythm, Ferlinghetti dances down the page in unexpected leaps and pirouettes. And comes to a fabulous conclusion in section 29 where he manages to condense Ulysses, Finnegan's Wake, Anna Karenina, Hemingway, Proust and Lorca (and much else) into about 100 breathlessly unpunctuated lines."Oral messages" are jazz poems, meant for live performance but still quite effective on the page, again full of clever puns and literary references that you would probably only pick up on a very subliminal level in performance. "Pictures of the gone world" range a little more widely, with a few nods to the lyrical tradition, but still in the light-footed style of "Coney Island".
The typographic design, with its classic underground "typewriter-style" look, is superb — I loved that they even went as far as using freehand underlining for emphasis instead of italics. Freda Browne is credited as the designer, while the cover is by Rudolphe de Harak.
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Subjects
Awards
San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year (Nonfiction — 2008)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1958
Physical description
96 p.; 8.1 inches
ISBN
0811200418 / 9780811200417