Projectivist And The Beat Poets example essay topic

A half century ago, American poetics redefined itself when it made some organic changes. Traditional verse, as its force-fed rhyme and meter schemes often restricts any accurate report, was subdued and chastised in favor of a more-realistic, a more human-excretory approach to writing verse. Both the Projectivist and the Beat poets, led by Charles Olson and Allen Ginsberg respectively, were instrumental leaders in this mapping of future poetics. They felt communication to be a fine-tuned relationship between the mind and its environment, and as such, a writing tool naturally and necessarily void of abstraction. In fact, they considered the fruits of their labors as real, and as definite, as the material which it emerged. Let's take a closer look at the organic form desired by the Projectivist poet as described by Charles Olson.

Primarily, the poet must compose his poem by field. In other words, instead of trying to fit the near-best word into a pre-ordained line, stanza, or form, the Projectivist poet uses an inherently-less-restrictive, open, free-style verse which relies solely on the poet's digestion of his environment, or field. Using such verse could only prove to enhance true communication. Essentially, there are two interrelated parts to Projectivist verse, the "what?" and the "how? ". The "what?" can be split three ways: kinetics, principle, and process.

Kinetics refers to the energy transfer from the field through the poet's mind to his pen. The path the energy takes from field to pen is fixed and thus, as mentioned above, void of abstraction. The second part, principle, is simply a corollary to kinetics. This part of the "what?" has been best described by Robert Cree ley who wrote, "form is never more than an extension of content". Finally, the process of composing by field can be easily defined with an understanding of the domino effect. We all know that tapping thus toppling the first of a group of dominos stacked in alignment with each other will swiftly lead to a further tapped thus toppled domino.

The same idea can be understood with regards to Projectivist theory of verse; as told to Olson by Edward Dahlberg, "one perception must immediately and directly lead to a further perception". The second part of the theory of Projectivist verse, the "how", is basically the life force the energy picks up as it travels through the poets body. Olson very eloquently referred to this union of field and life as "the dance of the intellect". According to Olson, born from this joyous celebration are the syllable and the line. By way of the senses as the uterine tube, the mind as the womb, and the breath of the poet as the birth canal, Projectivist poetry is created. And it has life, boy does it have life!

In fact, it is life, as it is a natural extension of content. At the time Olson was drafting his theory of projective poetics, Allen Ginsberg was just getting started on his own journey through the beautiful sludge of organic communication. Ginsberg felt down deep the true rhythm of the Beat. This life-style of writing Ginsberg utilized was also called Beat, a usually drug-induced, politically-seeded organic poetic form in which the author writes quickly and avoids revision.

Like the Projectivist poets, the Beat denounced generalization and abstraction. In addition, Ginsberg and his Beat pears rejected logic and preconceived restrictive semiotics in favor of free association and reflex-like rhythmic impulses. It is within this fruitful unrestricted Beat form that rhetorical protest wizardry excels. Allen Ginsberg criticized a masochistic culture. A mankind suffering from the grip of its own hand. He did so by tapping into the sources of his own internal pain and suffering.

Ginsberg was an outstanding spokesperson for outcasts and other victims of a brutish society. Some of the causes he addressed in his works include free speech, gay liberation, legalization of marijuana, and world peace. His deep-seated messages found form in essay, interview, poetry, speech, song, chant, and other performance mediums. As mentioned above, Ginsberg was an unreserved spokesperson for many causes. He put the America's misunderstood and misrepresented upon his shoulders when he internalized their plight. The pressure from carrying such a tremendous load was not without consequence, however.

Ginsberg suffered from periodic bouts of depression and other forms of mental illness and frequently attended regular counseling sessions with his "psychoanalyst" for most of his adult life. Nevertheless, as Ginsberg was internalizing the tribulations of "America", he was externalizing its effect by disbursing energies in tact. In his poem "America", published in 1956, Ginsberg provides his audience with an autobiographical profile, a vivid sketch, if you will, of his inner-sanctuary suffering from the comprehensive ills of society. He does so following his theory of organic form poetry. He cast to the wind any hint of preconceived rhyme or rhythmic patterns in his aggressive criticism of society. His only measure for syllable or line was his breath, his natural breath, the natural breath of the American citizen, worn, beaten, outraged and vocal.

He blasts the atom bomb. He accuses America for his rebellion, his obsessions, and his illnesses. And finally, reproached the "insane demands" laid upon him; yet excused their occurrences when he put his "queer shoulder to the wheel.".