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An Eye on the World
Poetry by beat writer Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 196
About the author
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
263 books656 followersA prominent voice of the wide-open poetry movement that began in the 1950s, Lawrence Ferlinghetti has written poetry, translation, fiction, theater, art criticism, film narration, and essays. Often concerned with politics and social issues, Ferlinghetti’s poetry countered the literary elite's definition of art and the artist's role in the world. Though imbued with the commonplace, his poetry cannot be simply described as polemic or personal protest, for it stands on his craftsmanship, thematics, and grounding in tradition.
Ferlinghetti was born in Yonkers in 1919, son of Carlo Ferlinghetti who was from the province of Brescia and Clemence Albertine Mendes-Monsanto. Following his undergraduate years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he served in the U.S. Navy in World War II as a ship's commander. He received a Master’s degree from Columbia University in 1947 and a Doctorate de l’Université de Paris (Sorbonne) in 1950. From 1951 to 1953, when he settled in San Francisco, he taught French in an adult education program, painted, and wrote art criticism. In 1953, with Peter D. Martin (son of Carlo Tresca) he founded City Lights Bookstore, the first all-paperbound bookshop in the country, and by 1955 he had launched the City Lights publishing house.
The bookstore has served for half a century as a meeting place for writers, artists, and intellectuals. City Lights Publishers began with the Pocket Poets Series, through which Ferlinghetti aimed to create an international, dissident ferment. His publication of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl & Other Poems in 1956 led to his arrest on obscenity charges, and the trial that followed drew national attention to the San Francisco Renaissance and Beat movement writers. (He was overwhelmingly supported by prestigious literary and academic figures, and was acquitted.) This landmark First Amendment case established a legal precedent for the publication of controversial work with redeeming social importance.
Ferlinghetti’s paintings have been shown at various galleries around the world, from the Butler Museum of American Painting to Il Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome. He has been associated with the international Fluxus movement through the Archivio Francesco Conz in Verona. He has toured Italy, giving poetry readings in Roma, Napoli, Bologna, Firenze, Milano, Verona, Brescia, Cagliari, Torino, Venezia, and Sicilia. He won the Premio Taormino in 1973, and since then has been awarded the Premio Camaiore, the Premio Flaiano, the Premio Cavour. among others. He is published in Italy by Oscar Mondadori, City Lights Italia, and Minimum Fax. He was instrumental in arranging extensive poetry tours in Italy produced by City Lights Italia in Firenze. He has translated from the italian Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Poemi Romani, which is published by City Lights Books. In San Francisco, his work can regularly be seen at the George Krevsky Gallery at 77 Geary Street.
Ferlinghetti’s A Coney Island of the Mind continues to be the most popular poetry book in the U.S. It has been translated into nine languages, and there are nearly 1,000,000 copies in print. The author of poetry, plays, fiction, art criticism, and essays, he has a dozen books currently in print in the U.S., and his work has been translated in many countries and in many languages. His most recent books are A Far Rockaway of the Heart (1997), How to Paint Sunlight (2001), and Americus Book I (2004) published by New Directions.
He has been the recipient of numerous prizes, including the Los Angeles Times’ Robert Kirsch Award, the BABRA Award for Lifetime Achievement, the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Award for Contribution to American Arts and Letters, the American Civil Liberties Union’s Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award. Ferlinghetti was named San Francisco’s first poet laureate.
Ferlinghetti was born in Yonkers in 1919, son of Carlo Ferlinghetti who was from the province of Brescia and Clemence Albertine Mendes-Monsanto. Following his undergraduate years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he served in the U.S. Navy in World War II as a ship's commander. He received a Master’s degree from Columbia University in 1947 and a Doctorate de l’Université de Paris (Sorbonne) in 1950. From 1951 to 1953, when he settled in San Francisco, he taught French in an adult education program, painted, and wrote art criticism. In 1953, with Peter D. Martin (son of Carlo Tresca) he founded City Lights Bookstore, the first all-paperbound bookshop in the country, and by 1955 he had launched the City Lights publishing house.
The bookstore has served for half a century as a meeting place for writers, artists, and intellectuals. City Lights Publishers began with the Pocket Poets Series, through which Ferlinghetti aimed to create an international, dissident ferment. His publication of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl & Other Poems in 1956 led to his arrest on obscenity charges, and the trial that followed drew national attention to the San Francisco Renaissance and Beat movement writers. (He was overwhelmingly supported by prestigious literary and academic figures, and was acquitted.) This landmark First Amendment case established a legal precedent for the publication of controversial work with redeeming social importance.
Ferlinghetti’s paintings have been shown at various galleries around the world, from the Butler Museum of American Painting to Il Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome. He has been associated with the international Fluxus movement through the Archivio Francesco Conz in Verona. He has toured Italy, giving poetry readings in Roma, Napoli, Bologna, Firenze, Milano, Verona, Brescia, Cagliari, Torino, Venezia, and Sicilia. He won the Premio Taormino in 1973, and since then has been awarded the Premio Camaiore, the Premio Flaiano, the Premio Cavour. among others. He is published in Italy by Oscar Mondadori, City Lights Italia, and Minimum Fax. He was instrumental in arranging extensive poetry tours in Italy produced by City Lights Italia in Firenze. He has translated from the italian Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Poemi Romani, which is published by City Lights Books. In San Francisco, his work can regularly be seen at the George Krevsky Gallery at 77 Geary Street.
Ferlinghetti’s A Coney Island of the Mind continues to be the most popular poetry book in the U.S. It has been translated into nine languages, and there are nearly 1,000,000 copies in print. The author of poetry, plays, fiction, art criticism, and essays, he has a dozen books currently in print in the U.S., and his work has been translated in many countries and in many languages. His most recent books are A Far Rockaway of the Heart (1997), How to Paint Sunlight (2001), and Americus Book I (2004) published by New Directions.
He has been the recipient of numerous prizes, including the Los Angeles Times’ Robert Kirsch Award, the BABRA Award for Lifetime Achievement, the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Award for Contribution to American Arts and Letters, the American Civil Liberties Union’s Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award. Ferlinghetti was named San Francisco’s first poet laureate.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 15, 2019
American poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti is considered larger than life and I believe this year he turned 100 years old which is amazing! Although I started reading this book in an attempt to understand the beat poets, I later discovered that Ferlinghetti preferred NOT to be called a beat poet even though he spent years supporting other writers including Allen Ginsberg in the beat movement.
This particular collection published in 1967 includes selected poems from three of Ferlinghetti's earlier books; "Pictures of the Gone World (1955)", "A Coney Island of the Mind (1958)", and "Starting from San Francisco (1961)" and three new poems "The Situation in the West", "After the Cries of the Birds" and "Moscow in the Wilderness, Segovia in the Snow". The last poem in particular is moving in the way he marries the scenery of Moscow with the musical influence of the Spanish guitarist Andres Segovia. In fact, I found a YouTube audio of Ferlinghetti performing this poem with music which made me appreciate the poem even more.
Overall, his work varied from being sensual, to lustful, to sexual, to crude and sometimes offensive to women. The work was often narrative, sometimes rambling with repetition (and it drove me crazy when his first line repeated the title), but I enjoyed many of the references to other visual and literary artists. Some poems were rants and political and varied in length from one to eight pages.
I noted several poems about death, eternity, and horses plus some off-the-toilet humour like in his poem "Underwear" where he writes "Women's underwear holds things up/Men's underwear holds things down".
One of my favourite lines appears in the poem "And the Arabs Asked Terrible Questions": "a leaf unhooked itself/and fell upon the pool/and lay like an eye winking/circles/and then the pool was very/still" (p. 16)
Another noteworthy line: "We shoot holes in the clouds' trousers" (p. 112)
Do I feel qualified to judge this collection? No! Do I think I would read more of his work? Perhaps!
In a perfect world, I really should withhold judgement until I've studied and read all of his work but for now I'd prefer to move on and see what other work may inspire me more.
This particular collection published in 1967 includes selected poems from three of Ferlinghetti's earlier books; "Pictures of the Gone World (1955)", "A Coney Island of the Mind (1958)", and "Starting from San Francisco (1961)" and three new poems "The Situation in the West", "After the Cries of the Birds" and "Moscow in the Wilderness, Segovia in the Snow". The last poem in particular is moving in the way he marries the scenery of Moscow with the musical influence of the Spanish guitarist Andres Segovia. In fact, I found a YouTube audio of Ferlinghetti performing this poem with music which made me appreciate the poem even more.
Overall, his work varied from being sensual, to lustful, to sexual, to crude and sometimes offensive to women. The work was often narrative, sometimes rambling with repetition (and it drove me crazy when his first line repeated the title), but I enjoyed many of the references to other visual and literary artists. Some poems were rants and political and varied in length from one to eight pages.
I noted several poems about death, eternity, and horses plus some off-the-toilet humour like in his poem "Underwear" where he writes "Women's underwear holds things up/Men's underwear holds things down".
One of my favourite lines appears in the poem "And the Arabs Asked Terrible Questions": "a leaf unhooked itself/and fell upon the pool/and lay like an eye winking/circles/and then the pool was very/still" (p. 16)
Another noteworthy line: "We shoot holes in the clouds' trousers" (p. 112)
Do I feel qualified to judge this collection? No! Do I think I would read more of his work? Perhaps!
In a perfect world, I really should withhold judgement until I've studied and read all of his work but for now I'd prefer to move on and see what other work may inspire me more.
Displaying 1 of 1 review