The poems of Charles Bukowski arose from the gutters of society, venting his personal experiences with a dark, but often humorous narrative. Despite his disgust towards social conformity and the American government, Bukowski is still generally considered an iconic figure in American literature. A contradiction to Bukowski’s anti-American opinions is made by his emphasis on the values of freedom and independence in his poems: yellow cab, I have shit stains in my underwear too, and quiet clean girls in gingham dresses. These poems reinforce Bukowski as a cynical critic of the bourgeois society, often targeting women; it would be foolish to blind ones opinion on whether he was anti-American or not, as such generalizations rarely fit an individual perfectly. Why Charles Bukowski criticizes and mocks conformed societies can be uncovered through the analysis of his life.
Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) was born in post-World War I Germany, but soon after immigrated to America with his German mother and abusive American father (Frost, 2002). Bukowski was isolated in youth, contracting blood poisoning which caused severe acne, permanently scarring his face. According to Bukowski, his father severely beat him to vent out his own personal depression; this caused him to despise both his father and also his mother because she never tried to stop the beatings. Bukowski was introduced to a lifelong friend, alcohol, early in his adolescence (Frost, 2002). Shunned by his peers because of his appearance and helplessly beaten by his father, these events probably rooted his self-reliance and disdain towards conformity in his writing life. Bukowski attended college in Los Angeles, but dropped out leading to decade long period as an alcoholic dri...
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...atively. Isolated his whole life, Bukowski’s work incorporates vulgar humor to narrate his miserable and pathetic experiences.
Works Cited
Bukowski, Charles, “I have shit stains on my underwear too” Love is a Dog from Hell / Poems 1974-1977. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers Inc. 1977. 209. Print.
Bukowski, Charles, “quiet clean girls in gingham dresses…” Love is a Dog from Hell / Poems 1974-1977. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers Inc. 1977. 74-75. Print.
Bukowski, Charles, “yellow cab” Love is a Dog from Hell / Poems 1974-1977. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers Inc. 1977. 150-151. Print.
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Throughout the years, and throughout various forms of media, some of the greatest creative minds have been the victims of the most unfortunate circumstances. For many, their major problem is that of addiction, and one could say that it affects their work, for better or worse. For example, a writer’s prose usually is affected at least partly by the author’s inner dialogue, and thus, the author’s problems get mixed in with their writings. Therefore, the author’s addictions become a part of the work itself.
While growing up, he prepared himself to become a lawyer; yet, his chief struggle rooted itself in his lacking desire to practice law. Le described this monotonous lifestyle by saying, “Every twenty-four hours I woke up at the smoggiest time of morning and commuted…without saying a word, wearing clothes that chafed and holding a flat white in a white cup” (23). The droning demands of becoming a lawyer led Nam to discover his hope for creativity elsewhere. Furthermore, he explained how the shackles, which held his mind captive led him to hate those who were free to explore their imagination. Therefore, he sacrificed his profession to become a writer, which led to an anarchic and disintegrated lifestyle. Although Nam’s life became hectic and he faced new adversities, he set his ingenuity free at a young age and freed himself from cultural
The book starts with Blumberg’s personal experiences with his dogs and moves onto several examples from other famous p...
Malone, Michael. "Tough Puppies." The Nation 242.9 (8 Mar. 1986): 276-278. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Deborah A. Schmitt. Vol. 111. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 May 2014.
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Canine tales are becoming an ever-more-popular medium for expression, says Garber: “Just as the pathos of human love and loss is most effectively retold, in modern stories, through the vehicle of the steadfastly loyal and loving dog, so the human hero has increasingly been displaced and replaced by the canine one” (44). The spotlight has been shifted from the larger-than-life human to the humble family pet and his canine brethren. Stories that feature a dog rather than a person are able to more convey a deeper sense of meaning, establishing their...
Mark Doty’s poem, “Golden Retrievals” describes the thoughts of a dog who’s merry tone contrasts with the human’s sentimental view towards life. The poem is in a form of a Shakespearean sonnet, but uses slant rhymes to further portray the speaker is a canine. Doty uses images, rhythm, rhyme, and organization to encourage the tension between the speaker and the human.
Ferguson, Margaret W., Salter, Mary J., and Stallworthy, Jon. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. fifth ed. N.p.: W.W. Norton, 2005. 2120-2121. 2 Print.
Mays, Kelly J. ""Puppy"" The Norton Introduction to Literature. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2013. N. pag. Print.
Gilman, Charlotte. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Literature a World of Writing: Stories, Poems, Plays, and Essays. Ed. David Pike, and Ana Acosta. New York: Longman, 2011. 543-51. Print.
Allison, Barrows, Blake, et al. eds. The Norton Anthology Of Poetry . 3rd Shorter ed. New York: Norton, 1983. 211.
Similar to the characters in his novels, Jack Kerouac lived a wild and unpredictable life filled with travelling, hitchhiking, drugs, alcohol, and rock n roll. He met new people every day, and discovered new things daily. He also attended countless numbers of parties with his fellow beatniks in attendance. Due to his bizarre and unusual behavior, literary critics and book publishing companies often despised Jack Kerouac and they dismissed his novels as being obscene and inappropriate for people to read (Jack Kerouac). However, his rejection by critics didn’t bother him very much. As long as he had his typewriter, some paper, and the American frontier, then Kerouac was a happy man. It can be argued that his travels are the reason why he suffered from such a severe drug and alco...
In poetry, the speaker is not necessarily the author but is the voice of the poem that conveys his or her situations or emotions. In the beginning of the poem, the speaker meets her ex lover “after all these years” (Kizer line 1). Kizer uses an extended metaphor of the speaker’s inner self as a dog, more specifically, a female dog, which explains the title, “Bitch”. The speaker’s inner bitch reveals emotions of being wounded, furious, and affectionate towards her former lover all at once. The speaker is miserable in how she has to hold back the dog. She says, “as I drag you off by the scruff” (Line 33). This gives the reader the imagery of a dog being pulled away from something the dog aspired to do, illustrating the miserable and wounded tone. The speaker is