Influential Poets of the Beat Generation

The Beat Generation of poets was created by a group of poets in the 1950s that were part of a new culture in literature. They chose to use their experiences in their writings which were widely criticized as well as loved by many readers. Two of the most influential Beat Poets of that Generation of writers were Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. The Beat Generation poetry was the first poets to write about non-conventional subjects as well as using different forms of expression in their works. This generation of poets greatly influenced poets such as Anne Sexton, who wrote about personal experiences as well. The Beat Generation’s style of poetry have influenced many generations of poets after them.

The Beat Generation of Poets started in the 1950s and was not only influential with their style of writing but also was radical with the content of their poetry. According the Ginsberg, an influential poet of the Beat Generation

The phrase “beat generation” arose of a specific conversation

between Jack Kerouac and John Clellan Holmes in 1948. They

were discussing the nature of generations, recollecting the glamour

of the Lost Generation, and Kerouac said, “Ah, this is nothing but a

beat generation” and the name stuck. (Waldman, xiii)

The term “beat” had several different meanings in the 1950s but the most common definition meant “run down, tired.” Within that decade the definition began to change to mean “beautiful” or “beatific” which was penned by Kerouac. Not long after the meaning became associated with the idea of a “group of friends who had worked together on their writings. But the most common known definition of “beat generation” is the influence of poets, filmmakers, writers, painters or novelists who believed...

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... motivation for their writings. Although Criticism of the Beat’s movement is that the poets rely on “inadequate readings of postwar protest and dissent” (Benette, 180). No matter the argument against the Beat Generation, their works have influenced future generations of poets.

Works Cited

Bennett, Robert. "Deconstructing and Reconstructing the Beats: New Directions in Beat Studies." College Literature 32.2 (2005): 177-184.

Johnston, Allan. "Consumption, Addiction, Vision, Energy: Political Economies and Utopian Visions in the Writings of the Beat Generation." College Literature 32.2 (2005): 103-126.

Merrill, Thomas F. Allen Ginsberg. Boston: Twayne Publishing, 1988.

Silesky, Barry. Ferlinghetti: The Artist in His Time. New York, NY: Warner Books, 1990.

Walden, Anne, e.d. The Beat Book: poems and fiction of the beat generation. Boston: Shambhala, 1996.